This post is dedicated to my blog friend, Moose the Labradane, who lives in a faraway place called Florida! 
A while back, my friend Moose played a really cool game with his human on her wheelie chair. It looked such fun that I wanted to try it with my human too!
Except that I don’t think I quite – er, ‘got it’…hmm, Hsin-Yi says she was pulling me more than I was pulling her!
Well, you can see for yourselves 
:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8xV7h3Buc
.
Moose also asked me a while back to post some instructions for how I learnt my ‘Paws Up’ trick.
Well, this is actually the first part of the trick “Say Your Prayers” – but I haven’t learnt the last part yet where I put my head down. (Hsin-Yi is a bit of a moody trainer so we do trainings only when she feels like it and sometimes, I start to learn a trick and then don’t come back to it for months! At the moment, I am halfway through at least 4 different tricks! )
Lots of doggies usually learn this trick first on their human’s arm but I’m quite heavy (hee! hee!) so it’s hard for Hsin-Yi to prop me up with her arm – so she decided to just teach me on a chair first. We think it is actually easier to teach anyway starting with a chair or low table or even stool, if you are an extra small doggie.
Also, it is important that us doggies are sitting first – not standing – otherwise it will look like a different trick.
OK, so for the first part, this is how I learnt it:
(by Hsin-Yi)
1) First encourage your dog to paw the chair – some dogs are naturally “paw-y” dogs and will use their paws to interact with anything (Honey is one of these!) so just indicating the chair will get them to paw it. As you will see in the video below, she has also already been taught another command called “Hit it!” which is to touch something (target) with her paw – so I used that to start with. CLICK & treat (or use your marker word) as soon as you see their paw make contact with the chair. Doesn’t matter at this stage if they immediately take it off again.
* If your dog won’t paw the chair, try to elicit the action: if your dog knows “Shake”, offering your own hand to them can get them to at least lift their paw up first (you see me do this in the video). Click & reward even just a small lift of their paw at first. Remember, baby steps.
* If they don’t know Shake, you can try showing them a treat and then hiding it under your hand, on the chair. Your dog will try to get the treat from under your hand and often, if they can’t nibble it out with their mouths, will try using their paws…so be ready to mark them the instant they put their paws up to your hand.
2) If you keep marking & rewarding every time your dog’s paw makes contact with the chair, they will quickly work out that THAT is the action you want and they will start to offer it voluntarily. When they are doing this confidently, start to wait until they keep the paw on the chair for longer before giving them the CLICK (or marker word).
3) Once they can do that confidently with one paw, start to withhold the CLICK and try to get their other paw up as well. Again, baby steps. With Honey (especially because she has such long legs), I didn’t expect her to immediately lift both paws up in one go – I clicked first just for lifting her weight off the other leg, even sightly. This helps her understand what I want – and makes it easier for her to eventually put her other paw up on the chair as well. (Clicker training is all about constantly encouraging the dog by rewarding small steps to give him confidence to keep trying).
4) Again, once they are putting both paws happily on the chair, start to wait a couple of seconds longer each time before giving the CLICK, so that they learn to keep their paws up there.
5) At this stage, you can also start to introduce the cue/command (we use “Paws Up!”) just before the dog does the action and you can also start to phase out the CLICK/marker and just reward with praise and treats.
Here is a short video clip of Honey learning this trick at doggie dancing camp back in Jan. She happened to pick this one up very quickly because she is a “paw-y” dog and she learns any tricks involving her paws very quickly (and she already knew how to target things with her paws). So don’t worry if your dog is slower. Be patient and if they are really not getting it, break it down into even smaller steps & reward for even a slight approximation of the behaviour.
(*If your dog stands up when they put both paws on the chair, just patiently ask them to Sit and try again – they will eventually learn that they need to remain sitting, while putting their paws up.)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoVZSvq5Cs0
Once your dog has mastered this part of the trick, you can go on to teach them to bow their head down between their paws, in the classic “Say Your Prayers” pose, which looks very cute. I haven’t taught this to Honey yet and am not sure if I will as she has such long legs and deep chest, it may be uncomfortable for her to hunch over like that (it’s a bit of a feat for her to prop herself up like that as it is!) – but most other dogs who are not giant breeds should be able to do it no problem.
Instead, however, I have extended our Paws Up trick to her doing it on my arm – which is a more useful move for dancing anyway. Remember, you can always modify tricks to suit your own dog.
For those of you who want to go on to teach the final ”Say Your Prayers” part of the trick, here is a great video from my friend Pamela Marxsen who is a trainer in San Diego (http://www.pamsdogacademy.com/):
And here is another great video of the same trick by another trainer, which you may also find useful:
Happy Training!
******
OK – before I go, I wanted to show you a scary thing my human saw in the supermarket yesterday…is that me and my blog friend, Mango the Mastiff, squished into tubs?? 
Eeeeeeek!!!
* AAAaaaarrrggh! We have just found out that we have exceeded our internet allowance for this month and have been dropped to dial-up speeds! I’ve been trying to do Google Reader but it is absolute torture - takes 10mins to load a blog page and then I can’t see any of the photos ‘coz it takes another 10mins to load them! Plus we’ve got friends arriving from overseas later in the week so will be very busy…Our broadband should be restored early next week hopefully – so hopefully we’ll be able to catch up with everyone then. So please excuse our absence this week! ~ Hsin-Yi
Hi Honey -- That is a cool trick -- I can do paws pretty good (it's usually the first thing I offer my human when she has a treat for me). I'll have to see if they will try this trick with me!
:)
Have a good week with Hsin-Yi, Paul and their human friends
BTW -- my human Diane watched that video of the 93 year old woman dancing -- she kept saying "Oh My God" over and over and shaking her head and then lookin in the mirror and saying something about being "Fat and uncordinated" -- whatever that means?
Your friend, Indy
Honey you are so smart! That looks like a fun trick with the chair I will see if I can get mom to play that with me.
She tried to play tug of war with Boxen last night but he let go and busted her lip with his toy. This is the second time so she will not play that with him anymore.
I hope you have a great week!
Boxer snuggles
Bella
p.s. if mom would learn to not pull so hard then I would not let go. She pussl hard then comes down to kiss my nose, I let go and it hits her. Do humans ever learn? Oh well. Snuggles from Boxen
Honey! so sorry we've been so AWOL lately -- we love your latest trick, but it looks like your Mom had more fun in the wheelie chair than you had trying to pull her around heheee!!! But great job, Ma, on writing out such an explicit description of how to train "say prayers" along with the video! You HAVE to pen a book, Hsin-Yi!!! Such talent! And wonderful other movies as well -- talent everywhere! Wonderful!
Big Hugs xoxoxoxo
Sammie
Hsin-Yi, your laugh is delightful! I cringed at the thought of the chair scratching your beautiful floor.
One of the Danes I look after also swings her head around during Tug-of-War type games, to get the rope from me. It hurts, but is usually an effective tactic!
Oh, the days of dial-up…
OMG hope there isnt el'bow yohurt but once we found some el'bow creme AAAAAAAAH
well that say your pray looks fun fur hauwii
we gonna try that
oh honey look at our new youtube video we know that you gonna like it
its about gabe
Kissssslobbers
El'bow & Hauwii
I hate to say it, but I think that labradork Moose dog is better at the old chair pull trick than you are.
I love El'bow's comment. Us mastiffs are quite clever.
Slobbers,
Mango
I have dial up internet. I hate it but it's what I can afford.
You look like you're having fun pulling Hsin-Yi!
oooo… i can't wait to watch the last 2 vids. my dogs learned "paws up" fast. in fact, sometimes i use a 2 step-stool to teach a "go touch" object for them and Juno just steps up on it! swear to dogs! so i reward her for it cuz it's so cute. it's one of those, oops, i didn't expect that, but i like it, i may as well reward it. hilarious. but i've been meaning to add the "say your prayers" part myself and haven't. like you, i go half way and we're learning several tricks at once and sometimes take a long time to go back to them!
very well done Honey!
Great post, Honey -- we loved watching you and your Mom being silly -- your Mom was having so much fun (Mom also says she loves that top she had on). And the training videos were great, all of them.
Sorry about the broadband issue -- hope to see you back real soon.
Woos -- Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Your mummy is a silly one Honey Dog!
Dial up? Oh why bother! LOL. I have no patience for dial up.
Loved your video, and giggled along with Hsin-Yi. What we humans do to entertain ourselves.
Well done on the tricks!
Hope you get your computer issues sorted soon!
take care
Clive and the NSLM
Very funny wheelie trick! I know I couldn't do that one! And paws up is cute even without the prayers part!
Hope you get your internet back soon -- dial-up just doesn't cut it any more!
That looks like a cool kind of Tuggy-Tug game! I'll have to try that!
Luv,
Dave
Hi Honey!
That is such a cute video of you and Hsin-Yi playing with the wheelie chair! Mom is so inspired by the "Paws Up" trick that she said she wanted to try it out with me…I know how to shake, but I don't do it all the time. LOL!
She also got a clicker and watched the videos that you and Hsn-Yi did on clicker training…it was very helpful because she didn't have a clue on what to do with the clicker and she said she did it wrong previously. So now, she's going to try it nice and slow to make sure that I actually get what she wants me to do instead of rushing ahead (especially for tricks I already know!) =)
Scottie
The wheelie chair game looks fun but I don't think I could pull Mom very well on carpet…hmmm! Anyway, I love your paws up trick…Mom says I am very "paw-y" myself. I can't believe someone would try to squish you and Mango into a tub! YIKES!
Nala
Wheelie chair game looks like fun!! But, I am not sure if I can move my humans' chairs, as they are so heavy!!
First, have a nice time with your visitors!
Second, I thought Honey's tail was vert expressive in the chair game. Some fun, some confusion?, some excitement.
Third, thanks for the two links to the prayer trick. We tried to learn it at the recent Richard Curtis seminar, but haven't conquered it yet.
hello honey its dennis the vizsla dog hay that is funny wen yoo pull hsin-yi arownd on her chair!!! my frend reaper the border collie duz that with his peepul only he is not as big as yoo so he has to wurk harder!!! sorry to heer yoo hav run up aginst bandwidth caps bandwidth caps ar the wurst!!! ok bye
BARK! Daddy has played tug with me in his chair too. But his chair didnt have wheels. Mommy says she is going to try the wheels tonite. Looks like fun!
BARK! Sasha the Princess
You do so many fun tricks!!!!
I love Great Danes, this race is the only one right!
Hi Honey!!
Thanks for all the training tips! Maybe my mom will try this with me one day.
We understand your frustration with dial-up speeds -- we have dial up internet now and it is basically impossible to read blogs at home. (Unless we spend the ENTIRE day doing it!)
xo
AWESOME on both! Moose is so honored to have a post dedicated to him. The chair pulling was hilarious! I wonder if she might have trouble with the slippery floors or if she would go further in a long straight hall? I have a rug in my office and when we do this Moose is trying to maneuver himself onto the rug which of course won't work but suggests that even my floor (kind of rough tile) is a bit slippery for him! Very cute though! In one of her good runs where she really pulled you I saw a look on her face that was the same moose had the first time he realized he was pulling me. Very funny Honey!
Thanks for the trick tips. I tried it once and gave up and decided to put it off until I had instructions (good excuse huh?). I put my hand on a foot stool and asked him for his paw and that worked but Ow! I like the suggestion of trying something closer to the floor to start though because I think he will have better control and be more willing to pick up the 2nd one. I can tell too that I will use the clicking for even shifting weight off of the 2nd paw suggestion because he seems really reluctant to do that! I will keep you posted!
Sorry about the broadband- people like me with unlimited connections uploading huge files does not help matters! I really should be more conscious of this. I like big pics and when I go to blogs where I can't bigify them I get disappointed sometimes but sure I can cut back some. If I have a video embedded in my blog (which is a link to youtube) that does not use bandwidth unless you click to play it though right? I have never really understood these things!
In response to the posts about having trouble with dial up, have you guys considered satellite internet. Compared to Cable and DSL it is not great, but compared to dial-up it is wonderful. I used to be on dial up as well, so I share your pain. I have a blog dedicated to this topic, mybluedish.com/blog.
I can't believe how long it has taken to read your blog. I've just been so busy. I stopped following a bunch of blogs, but I still have 135 in my Google Reader.
It's funny though that I should read this post now since the say your prayers is the trick I was working on with Storm. I'm going to watch those other videos you posted so I can work on the actual head lowering part soon.
I liked the rolling chair game. I want to try that with Jackal, but I bet he'll get spooked when the chair rolls. Just have to see.