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Yesterday was the last day of my 30-day challenge to teach my dog five new commands: bang, roll over, crawl, go long and bucket. Let me stress that although my dog is grasping these new commands, he is still learning. The biggest mistake I made with this challenge was to set a deadline. Dogs can’t always learn something new in a short amount of time, and one of the worst things to do is rush them. A better challenge to try would be to train your dog every day for 30 days or to practice five new commands for 30 days. Even so, Ace is close to having the commands down, as you can see for yourself.

I’ll start with bucket (see the video here). As you can see, Ace has the commands that involve a ball down pretty well. He puts his ball in a bucket now, but I usually have to point to the bucket and stand right by it. The next goal is to get Ace to put a ball in the bucket no matter where I am standing. Because of his ball fixation and obsession with playing fetch, it is going to be nearly impossible to get him to put a ball in a bucket even five feet from me. “Bucket” has been a good challenge for Ace, because when a ball is around, he has a hard time focusing on anything else and ignores even the most basic commands.

I guess Ace is pretty good at “go long.” It would be nice if he could catch the ball more often, but maybe I need to work on my throw! Again, this command is challenging for him because he does not want to leave my side if I am holding a ball. See the video here.

The video of bang and roll over pretty much says it all. Ace is just not too thrilled about these commands and he decided to make that very obvious in the video. Just look at this mutt flop around. We need to work on a faster response, and I need to stop repeating commands so he doesn’t think he can wait until I say a word two or three times.

And finally, crawl. We need some more practice on this one. Ace will crawl, but he likes to keep his butt high. In the video, I kept my hand on his back. I will have to go back to the basics and start with Ace crawling only a few inches at a time. The problem is, he always wants to move so fast. Why crawl when you can run?

So there you have it. Although sometimes it seemed like we were getting nowhere, Ace and I have come a long way from day one. Try teaching your dog some new commands. Dogs can learn a lot if we take the time to teach them.

Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

Yesterday I began teaching Ace the command roll over. To teach this, I started with him in the down position. Then I held a treat over his head and moved it to one side so his body followed and he was on his side. I continued moving the treat and encouraging the mutt to roll onto his back and finally onto his other side. He doesn’t have this figured out yet and flops around like a dead fish when I try to get him to roll onto his back.

As far as his four other commands, he is improving. He has “bang” down most of the time and is getting better at crawling. A trick to get him to crawl is to line up several treats in a straight line in front of him so he has to crawl a few feet to each treat. This works best if you don’t have a food-crazy cat trying to steal the treats!

I worked on each command for about a minute or two each and Ace did a lot better than normal because the training sessions were so short. He did each command three or four times and then we stopped before he had a chance to do them wrong.

Today was day 16 of my 30-day challenge to teach my dog five new commands. To see my other 30-day challenge posts, click here.

Ace is working on learning the commands bang, crawl, bucket, go long and roll over. The video is of Ace and I practicing (pathetically) “go long,” where Ace should run out in front for a long throw. This might seem easy, but it is very difficult for him to leave me while I still hold the ball. As you can see by the mutt running around like a crazed monkey and my terrible throw while I hold a camera, we have a lot of work to do. However, it is a big step for him to even go a few feet from me while I am holding a ball. So, we have made progress.

While working on this challenge, Ace and I have had many difficulties. After starting, I soon realized that learning five new commands in a month is too much for Ace, especially since they are not easy commands like sit and stay. I recommend teaching your dog two or three new commands in a month, maybe even one! Crawl, bang and roll over are all too related and he is getting bang and crawl confused. We have not started on roll over yet.

I am trying to work in really short periods of a minute or so at a time throughout the day so Ace doesn’t get bored. I lose my temper easily with him if he is not doing well and getting frustrated with a dog is the worst way to train him. So, working in short periods is best for Ace and I.

What commands are you teaching your dog?

Today was day 14 of my 30-day challenge to teach my mutt five new commands. Click here to see all my 30-day challenge posts.