Trick: Packing for Vacation

It was only a few years ago that I got into training tricks.  Prior to that all the things I taught my dogs had a practical or sports application.  But I found that trick training can be a lot of fun!  One of my favourite tricks ended up being get in a closed suitcase, which I did with Tristan.

​Here's the final result:

Training

To perform this trick, Tristan needed to know the following skills:

• Lie down
• Go to Place/Bed
• How to open the suitcase

Then I could put them together.

I started by teaching him to get in the open suitcase, just like he would go to his dog bed on cue.

Then I added in the cue to lie down once he got there.

Now that he would get in and lie down, I needed to get him to open the suitcase lid to lie down.

I started by holding it mostly open while he got in, then gradually lowered it, so he would be comfortable with it over top of him.

Tristan had already taught himself how to open a door that was ajar, drawers with handles instead of knobs, and cupboard doors.  So it didn't take much to get him to stick his head inside the closed suitcase for a treat so he could learn how to start to get in the closed suitcase.

Once he realized he could move the lid aside in order to get in and lie down, we could put the entire trick together.

The last step was changing the cue.  And a bit of selecting for keeping his nose inside the suitcase (as you can see in the video, he wanted to stick it out the side in anticipation of the treat.  Some placing of the treat inside the suitcase for him after he got in helped him wait for me to deliver the treat in the suitcase instead of trying to sneak out the side.

And then we had it.  And I will confess that my favourite part was his little nose sticking out just a bit.

Happy training!