Gimme Dap

I stopped training Diesel for 2 days due to laziness but yesterday I started up again. I tried loose leash work, but me being fat, I got too lazy with bending over to treat at the appropriate time. Besides, he was in a goofy mood with too much energy so he wasn't responding well to the heel work. Instead we worked on the paw command. 

Last time I tried "give me paw" he froze up and started hating the clicker (April 2008). So I decided to try again. I wanted to do something cute instead of the boring, cliché "give me paw" with the person's palm facing up, so we did "gimme dap" and the cue is a closed, right fist.He picked up on it quickly and I'm not really picking a certain paw he has to use either, so he bounces around with two different paws. It's cute though because he lays down then pops up and gives me his paw (by scratching my fist).

Today was the second day doing "gimme dap" and he is doing very well. To reinforce this command, any time he wants a treat I have he has to "gimme dap." I'll probably do another session again tonight to really drill it in his head. His marker word is "yes." I need to get this on video since it's adorable how he does it. But I'll wait til I wean him off the treats, which I'm slowly doing now. He'll get a treat 3 times in a row, then get just praise, then treats 4 times in a row, then 2 times just praise, etc. Very random process.

For now, I am giving myself a deadline of June 13th, 2010 to have his training complete for a CGC and then November 23rd, 2010 to have the training for his TDI complete. We have a long time to go and I figured I'd give us this long of a deadline so I don't stress. Which is why we are doing cute little tricks for now. He seems to enjoy them anyways.