Meet my new project:
The Skateboarding Pup!
I watched a video by animal behaviorist Dr. Sophia Yin, and I was intrigued by the idea of Toki learning to ride a skateboard.
Ok, I know that’s ambitious, considering that I don’t even know how to ride a skateboard myself. But at least it should help Toki get over her mild skittishness about passing skateboarders. And we encounter a lot of them here in Venice.
I’m starting small. In other words, I’m just getting Toki to associate stepping on a skateboard . . .
. . . with some yummy treats.
We repeat over several training sessions, add a word to associate with the action (I’m using “skate”), and . . .
. . . Toki is ready to roll!
Don’t worry Toki! We won’t tackle that until next time . . .
I would stand on a skateboard for a treat too! Keep us posted on the progress!
Good luck! I already know this would not happen with Luna. i could get her to stand on it sure, but she does not have the drive to just go ride it even if we worked up to that. It is def a good trust building exercise though. Keep us posted
Don’t worry Toki we won’t do it either
Benny & Lily
Good Luck. The real trick is to get Toki to get on and propel the skateboard. I am still working on “stay” with Gretel 🙂
She’s okay with keeping her front paws on and walking her back paws as the skateboard rolls, as long as I’m holding a treat in front of her nose!
OMG. Toki is going to show up ALL those skatepunx if she gets this. Yeahh!!
I saw a guy skateboarding yesterday with a shag carpet surface on his board and immediately thought – I have to get one like that for Toki! Currently we’re borrowing a board from a friend.
Good luck with the training 😉
At least Toki looks great on the skateboard even though only front legs are on it.
What are Kame and Kroten’s favorite turtle sports?
their favorite sport is what I like to call ‘Chasing Food’ …they run really fast with food daggling in front of them 😉
I can’t wait to see her cruisin’ along the beach! Keep me posted on this
We’ll skate past your place on the way to the Venice Skatepark, I’m sure. : )
Awesome!!! Diesel and Kylie know how to skateboard, and that’s exactly how I started training them this “trick”. I’ll have to get a video up here soon, if the weather ever cooperates. Once Toki gets the hang of it, the 3 of them can hit up the skate parks 🙂
I would love to hear how you made the leap from your dogs standing on the board to moving on the board! Also, Toki seems a little long to actually fit on the board we have now. I’m thinking she might need a long board. Any tips (or a video on your blog) would be awesome!!
Plan is to make a skateboarding video this weekend (if the weather holds up) and a trick tutorial & post about skateboarding in the next few days. 🙂
Toki looks fantastic and certainly fits the image of an xtreme sports dog! Have fun with the training 😀
P.S. Maple has a fear of the vacuum cleaner. After watching Dr. Yin’s video, I’ll try luring her with treats. Who knows, maybe Maple will be seen one day riding the vacuum (LOL)!
Heehee. I starting giving Toki treats when I was vacuuming, and eventually placed them on top of the actual vacuum for her to nibble. The only problem was that she ended up getting too curious and started getting in the way of my vacuuming! My dream is to eventually get a vacuum dog brush attachment for her shedding. (The barn where I used to ride horses had a vacuum for the horses and they adored it.)
Awesome! I totally want to see a video of Toki when he learns it, which I’m sure he eventually will.
Now instead of getting scared at passing skateboards he will wanna go jump on their boards 😉
Hopefully! I’m thinking it could be pretty useful if Toki ever wanted to try surfing too . . . : )