Most people teach their dogs to come, sit, fetch, go in, load up and similar commands. Is there anything you teach your dogs that is uncommon, but useful or amusing?

For instance, my dogs are taught to all howl together on command and stop on command. It's somewhat useful for scaring predators away from our farm, but mostly it just makes Diane and I happy.

I had a feist, named Dingle, who I often used to start and train beagle and German shorthaired pointer puppies. If the pups weren't listening, I would tell her to catch and hold them. She would pin them to the ground until I told her to release them. I used her to start lots of beagles, 27 of whom later became champions. Dingle also knew left and right. I could use her to push the pups I was training into the brush and wherever I wanted them to go.

My catahoula, Brandy, will jump onto and sit on anything I tell her to. I used to set up lots of plastic, 55 gallon barrels and have her jump up and down and across them. Brandy liked doing it so much, she would just run to them and start doing it.

Our beagle, Gummy, does pirouettes and will switch direction when told to. She also mimics Diane's facial expressions. She will show all of her teeth, in a big smile like expression, if we say "Cheesy Gummy".

What weird tricks do you teach your dogs?

Keith

I don't have anything weird , but put most of the voice commands to hand signals

especially , sit , down , stay and come

clerks at the hardware store , farm and fleet and similar places you can take your dog in the store think it is the slickest thing when I have the dog sit or down while I check out and it is all silent.

Had a lab mutt best dog ever he’d watch me eating if I looked at him he’d look away like was not staring at me.

I used to have a dog that would catch chickens. I'd just point, and he'd go catch it and hold it unharmed until I collected it.

Miss him and his skill a lot!

That's a very useful skill for a dog to have. Dingle would catch and hold chickens and domestic rabbits, when they would get out, when I told her to too. Dingle was a mix bred, feist type dog. We used her for falconry a lot. I used her to hunt upland gamebirds, squirrels, rabbits, coons, vermin, opossums and groundhogs. She climbed 26' up in an oak tree once, after a fox squirrel. She could climb ladders too. What breed was your dog?

Keith

My yellow lab, Fiesty, is a moose shed finding machine. I just say "antler", and she is looking and sniffing, can find them by smell, or if they are upwind and visible by sight. Also knows my different kids by name, I say my son Jubal's name, and she immediately seeks him out. Good in case they ever get lost in the bush.

My wife has a terrier which I don't much like. I have trained it to not like cats which I don't like either. So if the wife ticks me off I say CAT and the dog goes crazy so much so the wife has to take the dog outside to try and find the cat. Works well. I get the dog and wife out of the house at the same time.

I didn't teach mine "come".

I taught her "touch".


We took her into TSC one day and she got loose from the wife.

She was in the back of the store playing with an employee.

I yelled "Lily Touch".

She was breaking speed records to get back to me.

The employee said he never saw a dog give up playing that fast and run to a command.

I've also taught her that when the back door gets opened she has to go sit next to it and wait for her leash too be put on.

Our Molly was taught that when approaching a door, she had to wait for her master to enter before she did.

We have a Scottish Terrier that will go to the bed if I say, "take nap" and If I say, "get squeaker" she gets a ball that squeaks, to play fetch.

I had a JRT that used to ride the motorcycle with me. She also was trained to ride in a ski tube behind the boat at 10mph.

A wierd trick she learned was to bite out a lit match.

JRT's are smart and easy to train.

My old dog would find morals when told find the srooms

That is slick.

Back when I was running and competing in NSTRA with my German shorthair, and English setters I had the whoa train or they would stop on a dime. It didn't matter if they were 600 yards away if I hollered whoa they wouldn't move one of my short hairs would literally slide in the mud 6 feet not moving her feet from the time I said whoa. It was good for training and getting them to not bust birds when they're on point it was really nice if they were running and getting ready to cross the road or somewhere where there was traffic and you can see a car or anything coming you can get them to stop. I would also trying to where they would point if I said bird but that was a trial cheat if they didn't see your smell of bird and I did I could get him to a point and I can flush the bird and throw it up or shoot it if it flew on its own and get the points to move on and find the next bird. Another trial cheat was when they learned to 4wheeler track,. Since they put the birds out in the field on 4 wheelers if they tracked the path it took they would find the birds much faster vs searching the entire field. I never trained then for that but the smart ones picked it up on their own.

I had a beagle I could point to the ground and it would stop whatever it was doing and come pick up the track there.

At Christmas time there was a weiner dog we could tell to open her present and she would dive under the tree rooting through packages that had been there for weeks and bring out her wrapped dog toy and and unwrap it.

I had a dog that would ride in the back of the truck like an old farm dog.

I had a coon dog that wouldn't pull on the lead if you can believe it. That was nice.

Coyote dogs used to help pull out the coyotes.

I should get another hunting dog.

I teach my dog useful and helpful things. He is a working dog. Knows around 35 phrases and gets spelling. He finds my son when outside and i ask him. Finds shot squirrels... All the normal commands... Brings my hat, brings my shoes or slippers, plays fetch, finds many things i ask. Guards the house,protects us,protects anything here...an unusual border collie scared of nothing. He even herds coyotes if i dont call him off. Top u.k. breeding for livestock and protector .All in all around 35-40 useful chores. Herds everything.

With an airplane dog, always in a rush to get somewhere. Always taught my dogs to crap on command so I wasn't waiting on them. Always used the command "Tony Knowles". He was the governor of Alaska at the time, and not my favorite person. Most people got a chuckle out of the dogs when I'd say quietly, "Tony Knowles", and the dog would immediately squat and wink a steamer right there.

Also, teaching them to "shake" was important around the airplane. It was to get them to shake off the rain or snow before they hopped in the 'plane.

Jack

My older cattle dog will go nuts at "squirell", "kitty", or "get em". He'll grab whatever toy or blanket or shirt is nearby (or your arm, if that's what's available) and thrash it as if he's trying to kill it. The kids friends find it hilarious to sic him on each other.

Also, taught my dogs "go wide". They'd go around the back of the airplane to hop in the passenger seat. It keeps them well away from the prop, which might well do damage to them or the engine. Very useful command.

Jack

Steadiness