Box Training: Shaping & Clicker Fun for Your Dog

October’s  Positive Pet Training Blog Hop theme (co-hosted with Cascadian Nomads and Dachshund Nola) is Positive Training Fun with a Box! 101 things to do with a box is a clicker and shaping game where you treat the dog for any interactions with the box and shape it into a useful (or not so useful) trick.  Mr. N says hello and welcome to the world of shaping with a box. He likes to sit on boxes and pose probably because I reward heavily for jumping up on things and posing so I can take photos.  I did some free shaping with him to see what what kind of behaviors he would naturally offer. We’ve been doing some conditioning exercises with his K9 Fitbone lately and so that’s what he tried out on the box. He put his back paws on the box.

And stood on the box. It’s much more impressive when the surface area is wobbly!

I’ve also been working on pivoting (his front legs remain stationary on the platform but his hind legs move in a circle around the platform) with him so that’s what he offered most of the time.

What kind of tricks does your pet do with a box?