Labrador Retriever: Training you can use to your advantage

You are so fortunate! You have a lovely Labrador Retriever that makes an excellent companion, as well as a dog that is faithful and true. So do you want things to get even better? You can do so by training your pet to do a few simple chores for you. Let us gothrough some of these odd jobs that you can think of delegating to your four-legged furry friend to make him into your Man Friday!

1 A Door-man (Door-dog)

People are always leaving doors open and letting in the cold air and this can be really irritating! It is time for you to use the services of your doggie and teach him to shut doors. Let us see how to go about it!

• 1 Go to a room with a door that can be pushed shut.
• 2 Let the door remain ajar.
• 3 Hold a treat that your Lab loves close to the door at the height of the dog’s nose.
• 4 Call your doggie to you.
• 5 He will follow his nose and head for the treat in your hand near the door.
• 6 Now remove the treat.
• 7 As you remove the treat, make sure that your act of removing the treat makes your doggie shut the door with his paws and nose.
• 8 When the door is shut, say “Shut Door” and shower him with praise and give him his treat.
• 9 Keep repeating this exercise until he understands fully what “Shut Door” means.
• 10 Soon he will follow your command, even without your offering him a treat.

And voila! You have a doorman (door-dog) at your service!

2 Doggie – Turn off the Light

Get into bed, sink your head into your soft pillow, pull up the sheets, and call out to your doggie to turn off the light. No, this is not just a dream! You can make it a dream come true! And this is how you go about it.

• 1 With your doggie’s favorite treat in your hand, position yourself near the light switch.
• 2 Beckon your dog to you.
• 3 He will eagerly come towards you to get his treat.
• 4 Just as he moves towards the treat, move the treat away and let
• his paw hit the light switch and turn the light off.
• 5 As soon as he hits the switch and turns the light off, say “Lights Off.”
• 6 Now reward him with his treat.
• 7 Soon he will recognize the command and you will be able to stand at a distance and ask him to turn the “Lights Off.”
• 8 After some time you will be able to recline anywhere and your willing aide will help you to put your “Lights Off.”

And lucky you can luxuriate in the comfort of having someone else turn off the lights for you!

3 Put away your toys

No one likes to have extra clearing up to do, especially after a long and strenuous day. So having to clear up after your dog has been playing with his toys will only add to your woes. Well have no fear; help is at hand in the form of your lovely Lab and here is how.

• 1 First teach your doggie to “fetch” his toy when you order him to do so.
• 2 Then teach him to come to you and “Give” you the toy by placing your hand below his mouth.
• 3 Gradually teach him to “fetch” his toy and “drop” it at your feet.
• 4 Then instruct him to take the toy and “Drop in basket.”
• 5 Remember to praise him at every step.
• 6 When he is through with all the basic steps, graduate to the next part of the exercise.
• 7 Leave a toy lying somewhere in the room. Call your doggie. Ask him to “fetch” the toy and “Drop in basket.”

Your intelligent Lab will soon be carrying out this exercise like a pro and this will make you really proud of him!

Want to make him really useful around the house? Then try this. When your kids leave their dirty socks lying around the place, ask your dog to pick them up and drop them in the basket. What more could you ask for?

4 Doggie Alarm

Hmm, what about having a nice, loving, devoted, furry doggie licking your face to drag you out of the depths of slumber? Sounds good doesn’t it! So much better than the strident notes of a rather rudely ringing alarm clock!

Well go ahead and use the intelligence of your Labrador Retriever to do this job for you. And this is how you go about doing so.

• 1 Initially get up before it is time for your alarm to ring.
• 2 Once it rings call your Lab to you. He will come running and clamber on to your bed and start licking your sleepy face. Let him do so.
• 3 As the alarm ceases to ring, order him off the bed.
• 4 Repeated practice of this scene will teach your Lab that as soon as the alarm rings, he must jump on to your bed and lick you till you wake up. What better way to start your day than with loving licks from your much-loved dog?

Your ‘fetch & carry’ doggie

It is indeed nice to have someone to fetch & carry for you, especially if you are weary and feeling a teeny weenie bit laid back or just plain tired. Well, with a smart Lab around you can use his intelligence to do just this. So here is how to achieve this remarkably helpful feat.

• 1 Initially place your doggie on a long leash.
• 2 Wave a toy of his in front of him and then throw it so that he runs to “fetch” it.
• 3 Urge him to bring the toy to you.
• 4 Tug at his leash to make him come towards you if required.
• 5 Once he brings the toy to you, ask him to "drop" it at your feet.
• 6 Remember, do not forcibly take the toy from him. Force can damage the toy.
• 7 Remember to praise him at every step that he completes.

Soon you can get rid of the leash. He will "fetch" and "drop" the toy at your feet without it. You can use your dog to do this trick by fetching you useful objects such as getting your slippers or fetching your newspaper. Isn’t it a good idea for your dog to run to the porch, pick up your newspaper, and run with it in his mouth towards you? What luxuries you can enjoy with a properly trained dog.

Take me for a walk

Now that your Lab is smart enough to fetch you your slippers or your morning papers, he can become smart enough to remind you to take him for a walk. So teach him to fetch his leash when it is time for his walk.

• 1 When you are ready to take him for a walk and are attaching his leash to his collar, say "leash." This is an indication that you are ready to go out for a walk.
• 2 Soon he will associate the word "leash" as synonymous with going for a walk.
• 3 Later, even if going for a walk slips your mind, your pooch will remind you by coming to you with the leash in his mouth.
• 4 Remember to keep his leash at the same spot all the time for your pooch to find!

Go to your room

As the channels of communication between you and your pooch keep increasing, you will grow to love the way your dog responds to you. Like a little child you will soon be able to even order him to go to his room, crate, or kennel as the case may be. For the sake of convenience let us call it his "room." To train him to obey these commands follow this training schedule.

• 1 Make a trail of his favorite treats from the room you are in right up to his room.
• 2 Say "Go to your room" and let him follow his trail strewn with treats up to his room.
• 3 Once he is in the designated area, order him to "stay."
• 4 Praise him for obeying.

Soon he will go to his room at your command without having to be bribed with treats.

Give paw

This is a favorite trick with kids. Even your little one will be able to teach this to your doggie. It is the human equivalent of shake hands.

• 1 First ask your dog to sit.
• 2 Pick up his right paw in your right hand and say "shake."
• 3 Now let go the paw, put your right hand forward, and say "shake."
• 4 Gradually he will start lifting his right paw and placing it in your extended palm without much prompting, What a nice way of greeting guests! They will love such a well behaved dog.

Goodbye

A dog that not only shakes hands, but waves goodbye too will really be a crowd pleaser among your friends!

• 1 Ask him to "sit" and then "shake."
• 2 As he lifts his paw to shake, raise your hand up and out of his reach.
• 3 At this moment say “Goodbye.”
• 4 He will lift his paw to keep up with your hand.
• 5 Do appreciate this gesture with lavish praise.

Soon he will be merrily waving goodbye whenever asked to do so.

Lift Paw

Now this is a trick to help you while you clip his nails or clean his dirty little paws.

• 1 Ask him to "sit" in front of you.
• 2 Then ask him to "lift right paw and hold."
• 3 "Hold" is important, as he will have to sit with his paw up for quite some time until you finish the necessary grooming.
• 4 You will need to carry out this exercise with all four paws.

Shake yourself dry

This is a self-help measure for your Lab. It will save you the trouble of running after him to ensure that he has totally dried out.

It is such a useful trick for those monsoon days when he will come back wet after almost every trip outdoors. Another thing to note is that all doggie drying should be restricted to only one designated spot. Otherwise you will have showers of water flying all over the house.

• 1 Dogs have a natural instinct to shake themselves dry every time they get wet. Say the words "Rock & Roll" just as he starts to shake himself dry.
• 2 Say this phrase whenever you find it appropriate.
• 3 Thus he will associate "Rock & Roll" with shaking himself.
• 4 Eventually when you see that he is about to shake himself, lead him to the designated shake dry area. This area can be free of furniture or clothes that you do not want wet with water from a very wet dog.

Prayers

End the day with prayers just like with your kids. This is really sweet. Your kids will love it if their dog accompanies them in their daily prayers to the Almighty. So here is how you go about it.

• 1 Sit in front of your dog.
• 2 Place a low stool in front of him.
• 3 Place one of his paws on his stool.
• 4 Follow this with the other paw.
• 5 Place a favorite treat of his between the two paws.
• 6 His head will come to rest between the two paws right where you have placed his treat.
• 7 When he is in this position say "pray."

He will gradually learn what to do when you say "pray" after a few practice rounds.