# A neat trick to teach for lazy people!



## DreamAgility (Sep 2, 2013)

Ahh, you also have a trick dog!! Poodles are so smart. I ever got around to teaching Dreamer to do that, as my mother didnt want to have footprints and scratches on her doors. 
Heres our favorite video at 18 months old
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSGxVCRoiN8


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## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

DreamAgility said:


> Ahh, you also have a trick dog!! Poodles are so smart. I ever got around to teaching Dreamer to do that, as my mother didnt want to have footprints and scratches on her doors.
> Heres our favorite video at 18 months old
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSGxVCRoiN8


That is fantastic!! I loved the way she took the treat out of your hand in a frenzy!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Oh you two are giving me major Spoo Envy!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Cute! Swizzle always closes the shower door if it is open. I did not teach this it just offends his sense of order.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I can testify too what a useful trick it is! When I was a kid my Mom was constantly yelling at us to "close the front door!" We had a Blk Lab that used to break thru the screen and come thru the front door leaving it open and someone always had to get up and close it.........so one day I grabbed Jay (the Lab) by his collar and pushed his nose into the nose to close it (saying "close the door Jay") and I'll be dang if if didn't learn that in one try! We never had to get up again.....LOL! Thank you for that childhood memory!


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## TeamPoodle (Aug 10, 2015)

LOVED the video! What a neat trick and a smart poodle!


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

CT Girl said:


> Cute! Swizzle always closes the shower door if it is open. I did not teach this it just offends his sense of order.


Oliver always closes the refrigerator door if he thinks it's been open too long!

Love both the Mira and Dreamer videos! I too have Spoo envy .


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

What a handy trick! Good job, Mithy and Mira. Now you should do a video on how to teach it


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I HAVE a SPOO and I have SPOO envy! No way will I ever try that chest take off with Buck. Broken ribs for sure.


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## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> What a handy trick! Good job, Mithy and Mira. Now you should do a video on how to teach it


You could grab a toy and make it really exciting and wave it just out of reach in the air next to an open door. Right when the dog leaps up on the door mark and reward. Once the dog figures out that leaping up = reward, then is just a matter of raising criteria. Eventually, remove the toy and use a hand gesture and start a cue word. Always say the cue word before the hand gesture and they will eventually get it. I said "close the door" and then tapped the door with my hand. The most challenging part is closing the door all the way, so only start to do this once they are reliably leaping against the door so they don't get frustrated. If they are just pushing in increments, just kept repeating "close the door" and don't reward until the door was fully closed. Finally, you can open the door all of the way so it is adjacent to the wall and they will have to figure out how to move the door so they have enough space to leap against it and close it. You can add distance and say the cue while they are in a sit or down too.

Maybe I'll make a new video with a different door, but I hope this helps. It is actually very fast to teach it! I winged it with my own way because the videos I watched on YT weren't working for me.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

How clever is Mira!!! Loved that video!


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Thank you, Mithy! This is very helpful  Maizie loves to jump up LOL so hopefully it will be easy to teach her.


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