06/10/2025
The T-Shirt was purely coincidental 😂🍗
Loki’s family were asking about nail trimming last time we were catching up so I brought a fun lil toy over (and yes, some treats). Loki’s a very polite dog and didn’t show any interest in putting his paws near the board when it first emerged. Loki’s Mum mentioned how well he responds to praise so we showered him with praise when he got it right. (Along with unlocking a treat) Initially this looked like a paw touching off the board or stepping one paw onto it..fast forward to Loki pawing confidently and soon, scratching! 🎉
We finished up once he understood the concept a handful of times in a row and was still enjoying himself. My friend asked if we should teach him both paws? I suggested that she could ask Loki for that next time. We took a wee video to capture the 1 paw scratch and up both his paws popped! 🐾
My friend suggested we take a more professional video so we added an official verbal cue, set the treat release to 3 scratches & gave Loki a precise marker (“Yes”) for demonstration purposes. 👔
We did start the process with this precise marker, as to not distract him from this novel item that we were encouraging him to interact with. 🎁
But once there was an understanding of the item being the focal point in the exercise we got more on Loki’s vibe and made things more fun. ✨
He was confidently engaging and having fun unlocking the treats. (he initially hovered around the treat supply moreso than showing interest in the scratch board)
So there’s certainly a place for the quiet and perhaps boring moments in giving our dog’s time to figure things out. But how much more fun can it be for us all to celebrate when the moment lends itself!
Next time we would recap the rules of the game, rewarding Loki for interacting and pawing at the board, then add that chosen verbal cue (“Scratch”), move onto waiting for multiple scratches before rewarding and introduce alternating paw scratches. 💅
When we told her Mum that we were teaching the dog to trim his own nails she requested that afterwards we train Loki to trim the other dog’s nails. 😂
What does your dog respond well to? 🐶🎉