Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants / Crate Rest Exercises

Crate Rest Exercises

Recommended Video Examples

Dogs that have their activity restricted (are on crate rest) get bored, especially active dogs. Sometimes its too hot outside for active games. The best way to help them cope is to use their brains. The bonus is that they know some additional behaviors when they are ready for activity or the weather cools off.

Capturing a behavior is easy to do if you are patient and have good timing when using a clicker or other marker. You can follow these simple steps to help your dog understand what the behavior is, and how to train a physical and verbal cue that tells your dog to perform it.

Jessie practices the 'again' cue on a behavior she knows. She quickly applies the concept as she already knows it with several other behaviors. It is an advanced concept in animal training.

This game is one way to build problem solving skills and provide mental stimulation for your service dog. Great way to teach nose scenting ability too. It can be made simpler by using paper balls, or more difficult using smooth balls or odd objects.

Teach your dog how to find and paw indicate a scent using this easy and fun game using materials you have at home. Shows you step by step how to chain two simple behaviors (sniff, paw) to create a new more complex behavior that gets a new cue.

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This trick builds precision for object placement. Great for service dogs! To see 'how to' dog training videos: www.dogvideoindex.blogspot.com

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This is a quick filming just to show the trick. It was captured by placing a piece of tape on her face beside her ear.

Follow Jessie's actual progress during the first steps learning to turn on a light switch. In under 4 minutes (approx. 45 clicks), she has the main idea. WARNING: If your dog has ever been on an e-collar (electric zaps as punishment), please DO NOT train your dog this way for a live light switch.

Two key skills your dogs needs for a precise service dog retrieve are 'take' and 'give'. A formal retrieve is so much more precise and reliable than a play retrieve. Dogs are tsught not to chew, throw or paw at objects. They need to carefully handle delicate objects.

Here is Duke learning how to paw target using clicker training. Lots of training techniques are revealed in this video (if you watch it from start to end).

Training with opposites helps a dog to understand each cue better.

Learn step by step how to teach your dog how to recognize two different objects by name. Naming Objects with clicker training. This method can be used when teaching toy names, people, agility obstacles, service objects, assistance objects etc.

She is blind, and now cannot use hinder legs. I supports her using only the upper-body that can be freely moved without the pain because she just operated on the hinder leg. The concept training is a happy game that can be able to amuse the dog even if the segment of the body is inconvenient.

Behavior expert, Dr. Karen Overall, explains one simple way that pet parents can provide mental stimulation for their dogs. View this entire presentation (free registration required): http://vetvine.com/article/192/akcchf-human-animal-bond-event

This video shows how Pride has gone from taking a deep breath on cue to using a deep breath to self calm. He does it on his own, without being cued, when he gets worried or over aroused. Thank you to Dr. Karen Overall and Leslie McDevitt for their brilliance and assistance.