I’ve been discovering lots of different ways to use a chin rest recently, so decided to make that the next challenge. My videos don’t want to load today, so hopefully this explanation is clear enough. Feel free to ask questions if anything doesn’t make sense. I’ll try to add videos in the comments. Step 1 - Luring I find it works best to start with a larger target, rather than your hand for 2 reasons: it’s easier for the dog to get it right and you have both hands free. My usual choice is the seat of a chair, but you may need a lower item for smaller dogs. Start by luring the dog to bring their head over the target. At first, reward them even if their chin doesn’t fully touch. I like to reward in position then release and bring them back again. Step 2 - Fading the Lure Once they are consistently performing the behaviour, start to fade out the lure. The goal is for the dog to offer the behaviour themselves. Step 3 - Introduce Verbal Cue Each time the dog offers the behaviour, give your verbal cue before rewarding. Step 4 - Transfer to Other Items Once you have a strong verbal cue, you can transfer the behaviour to other items. To start with, cue ‘chin’ and point to the object. A useful second item is a chin rest to your hand. Step 5 - Start Training Tricks! There are lots of different ways to use a chin rest, so here are a few of my favourites: 1. Retrieve: Chin rest is a great tool for building a retrieve to hand. When the dog picks up the article, cue chin so they return to a steady position. Tilt your hand upwards to gain the high head position which some sports prefer. 2. Sad/guilty: A chin rest on the floor whilst the dog is in a down makes for a cute little sad face. 3. Hide head: Once you have a solid chin rest on a chair, you can introduce a pillow for the dog to hide under. Start by holding the pillow above the chair, and gradually lower it until the dog has to lift the pillow and rest their chin on the chair underneath. 4. Cooperative care: Gradually introduce movement of objects towards the dog’s head. This can then be used for skills like eye drops or cleaning ears.

@Nick Benger or anyone else do you have any tips for resource guarding? My foster pups are only 5 weeks and they are savage around food. Growling and couple of full blown fights grabbing each others throat. I feed them separately now and they even growl at me going past or taking the empty dish away. I normally do a food scatter when I need a break from them and ended up having to peace keep that too. I’m doing some hand feeding to start with but apart from that I’m stuck because I’ve never seen it that bad. Video of the little monsters looking all innocent 😂

Our new foster pups are Koolie x and sooo much fun. I have never fostered herding dogs and it blows my mind how different they play and they are already stalking my feet. At least they are not trying to shred everything like terriers 😂 Their mum is a working Koolie and dad a hound type of hunting dog from North Queensland. Send any herding x hunting puppy tips my way 😅

Since I posted about this new project dog I saved from the pound a lot of people have asked what his story is. I made a quick video to explain. 👇

Today the new dude had some fun playing with @Alex Lato He’s a pretty intense tugger which has got him in trouble previously so it’s nice to have a productive opportunity to play.