2021 1 7
This older yuppy puppy by now an antique has survived with hundreds of Great Dane puppies using it .. and the internal mechanism still functions beautifully .. the only modification I had to make was to tip it slightly forward so the dog treats shot out of the exit tunnel into a metal dish .. which made a noise just like $0.75 worth of quarters in Las Vegas sounds like you just hit the Jack pot of 2 million ( thus trained, you put the quarters back in ) .. that noise in the arrival of the dog treat is so instantaneous but the dogs usually learn very quickly to use it .. it is one of those places which also illustrates the concept of clicker training maybe .. I sit at the fool thing with my hand on the trigger ---which is a dog bone lever---and as the new puppy moves their head or foot tord that dog bone lever I trip it making the treats hit that metal dish . and usually within an hour I can have a puppy touching that lever with either nose or foot .. still tripping the thing myself . at which point I sometimes back away or have to back away and do something else .. leaving the puppy there to think about it what is it about that lever that makes my treat hit the dish . I must say as of about 10 years ago every puppy here knew how to do that --- some with their nose and some with their feet .. however the bending over became more difficult with my age so fewer dogs know it... I have taught capricious to do it ,she's ambidextrous and can use either foot ,the problem there is the introduction of a second dog namely malarkey . who makes no effort to trip the lever he just waits for Caprice is to do it for him .
however back to my email of where do I get to buy a yuppy puppy .. I am sure eBay has many .. the problem is the new ones are made of plastic and although the inner workings are the same there is no provision for having the treat fall into a noisy dish which is a huge part of the success of the yuppy puppy in the first place ..
so if you get one of those you've got to put it up on a riser so that you could get a metal dish underneath to catch for the treats... noisily .. the other problem with the new ones is that the globe which holds the treats is so small let it takes a Great Dane 14 minutes to empty it .. but the globe has approximately the same size as many gallon size jars of other things .. so the few other yuppy puppies that I own have been retrofitted with a bigger globe of some kind .. I bought 1 On eBay thinking my antique one was eventually going to get broken or stop working ... that hasn't happened ... and it works so much better then these newer plastic ones that I now have a small collection of plastic ones on the front porch that we don't use ... but we might someday--- so they stay there ... unless anyone would like 1 and can figure out how to take it .
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There it is another interesting DOG gizmo out there on the world of eBay .. it is a thing which looks like great fun will you hook it to your garden hose and the dog comes along and stands on it it gets squirted in the face which they then can play with . however I own some of those too as people have donated them to me --- I have yet to find the Great Dane that will tolerate getting squirted in the face unexpectedly .. that still is a lot different then biting the stream of water out of the hose .. dogs in general and great danes specifically don't like to be startled .. it's one of the basic training techniques we use ------you don't ever hit a Great Dane --- all you have to do is startle them ---- they pay attention .. water bottles with a few pennies are great or anything like that where there's an unexpected noise or tug on the collar . I have seen Caesar Mulan often using this startle technique .. it's very amusing because many times he has a bunch of dogs ---some in each hand and when he has one missbehave he'll move his foot backwards and give him a sideways kick it's not hard and it doesn't hurt the dog but it startles the dog and it raises hell with the animal rights people ..when all he's actually done is startle a dog--- that's enough . it works .
I don't know why that brings me 2 the testing of puppies for service dog performance . in the course of my 20 years or so of dealing with service dogs and other facilities that train them , and currently there are several universities which have been given a grant to pre determined what a dogs temperament will be . nobody asked me---- at least yet .. but there is a tremendous difference in a bunch of adolescent dogs which is very simply demonstrated bY ...... if you start with a dog that's already had his breakfast or dinner so that they're not starving .. then you put down a dish and let them start eating it then just ask him to move their rear end over as if to get out of your way .. you will get three different responses .. the best one, to me, is they just move their rear end OVER A STEP OR TWO.... . second response would be they just don't do anything .. and the worst response is they stiffen up and growl at YOU. most dogs will do one of those things .... All three are somewhat natural responses and you can work with them and get them to basically move over . which will get the more relaxed into their relationship with you .. but if you don't work on that and it becomes a permanent thing it can be a problem ..
one of those problems is currently lying on my bed .. sizzle I've never had a dog on my bed before .. but she had started lying there as I write this daily doggie ..so I put a new fluffy down every day and I don't mind too much .. I do mind when she's lying on my side and I want to sit there and drink coffee and watch television and I have to ask her to move over she is somewhere between not moving and stiffening up so I can't push her.. she would not growl at me because I have explained to her somewhere in her life but that's not to be done .. however she does not move over ... if I insist she jumps down and leaves . This attitude of hers is also very evident in her training . mind you many people would say she's perfectly trained .. well I've learned what I can ask her to do and what I cannot ask her to do .. one thing I cannot ask her to do is to carry a basket .. with extreme disgust she will stand and hold it in case I need a photograph of a dog holding a basket but the look on her face is total disgust .. whereas Gemini is delighted to hold the basket get the basket run around with the basket's mouth bring it to you look for a cookie and if he's eating and you ask him to move over he moves ----HE IS very happy TO OBLIGE .
most serviced dog people have a list on the " puppy test " .. you roll them over and hold them on their back to see whether they struggle or not ---- they go on to pinch toes to see if they'll Yelp which is a little unfortunate .. they throw a ball to see whether they'll go and bring it back .. that is useless with a Great Dane the most they'll do is go put their foot on it and leave it there .. and then they call a puppy to see how fast it will run to them .
now if you put a Great Dane puppy through that every single one will fail .. because any Dane with any sense is not going to come running to you after you've pinched their toe .. plus they have absolutely zero retriever in them .. that test is a projet in itself....could take 20 minutes per puppy whereas I can walk down a line of our puppies eating out of dishes and just ask him to step over with their rear end and you can kind of tell what we need to work on..
well that got to be a long topic..
Stacy
