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The Spatula Flying Treat Trick!
Have you seen the adorable videos circulating on social media that show a dog tapping a spatula with a paw to tip it quickly, which then causes a treat that was resting on the handle to fly toward them for an opportunity to snap it out of the air?
Many years ago, I was deeply immersed in trick training, to the point of producing two clicker training DVDs devoted to tricks! And even though I don’t do much training with my own dogs anymore, this trick really caught my attention and I’ve begun working on it with Bean and Bond. They are really enjoying the training sessions!
I began training yesterday and took a couple of pics at the beginning of session #2 and an early video with Bean to show their progress with the paw-targeting behavior. Neither dog had a previous paw-targeting behavior that I can recall. But both had nose-targeting experience. To reduce their desire to nose target the spatula, I shuffled it around to entice paw activity, marking and rewarding for any paw movements around it at first. Within their first session, both dogs began to purposefully use their paws.
Two other things I noticed:
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The spatula can wobble and keel over to its side when pawed more emphatically, so I taped on a piece of cardboard to stabilize it.
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Bean was initially startled by the spatula’s movement, so you’ll see in the video how I use my hand to control its motion, exposing her to the movement more slowly. Working on a soft surface, at first, will also eliminate clattering sounds.
What would your training steps be to continue on with this trick? And will you join me in teaching this to your own dogs?!
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13 Replies
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Bean is so attentive and curious and cute! I bet she’s doing this trick in no time. ☺️
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Aww, Bean appreciates your kind words @bernerlabreclectus ! The real trick will be getting the air-catching part, no doubt.
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Yes, I saw the trick on Instagram and saved it. So fun. I don’t have a dog to train to do it, but maybe a client’s dog in the future if they’re interested in tricks. Good luck with your training. Will await future videos ????
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Yay, @Shari ! A fellow appreciator of cute tricks. I will definitely post progress videos. ????
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How cute! I love the videos of Bean & Bond so far. They are really getting the hang of it!
I think Joy would try to eat the spatula, so I will have to find an appropriate one…I agree that teaching a paw target is key to success of the trick. We don’t have a paw target yet, I don’t think, although she is very pawsy! Ha! She likes to paw at things when they go under the couch or end table and succeeds in rescuing 60% of the things on her own, LOL!
She is just recovered from the spay and driving me crazy today. So maybe we need more training to tire her. This trick looks fun!
1. I think I’ll start like you and reward the paw movement. Did you put it on a specific cue? I know sometimes people like to say “Paw”, but since that’s also a trick, or I say it when wiping paws, maybe that’s confusing.
2. I will also mark and reward interest in the spatula that isn’t with her big yap! This could be difficult. ????
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@bernerlabreclectus Joy definitely needs to learn this game! She’s gonna FLING that spatula. LOL
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ROTHLMAO with how well you know Joy! Spoiler alert! ????Watch for a post today from me begging for help in this community, I’m ready for a complete meltdown about walkies…(not joking).
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@bernerlabreclectus , I hope you and Joy will join in on the fun! Can’t wait to see what you accomplish!
I don’t use a cue for the paw targeting piece right now. We’re still in the shaping process so I wouldn’t want to name the inconsistent behavior they’re emitting just yet.
I noticed on someone else’s video of this trick (with a medium-sized dog) that a sponge was taped to the base of the spatula, presumably to ‘soften’ the hit it makes on the floor. But since my dogs are small, getting them to paw it with enough vigor to cause a treat to fly up will be a challenge on its own.
If Joy is very enthusiastic with her pawing behavior, you’ll need to shape for calm/composed contact. I was also thinking, with some dogs, it might be useful to temporarily create a ‘channel’ of sorts, maybe using part of an open cardboard box, so that the dog practices the same angle of contact (i.e., straight on) with the spatula each time. Otherwise, when left out in the open, a dog may paw it from various angles.
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OMD this is so cute. What fun!!
The cardboard stabilizer is genius. I can’t wait to see the progression. Thanks for sharing!
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Here are the first ‘flying treat’ performances, filmed today. We’re having a grand time!
FYI, an OFF (leave it) cue will come in handy so the dog knows not to just go directly to the end of the spatula handle to steal the treat you balance there. And enough rewarded reps of the paw targeting will need to be under the dog’s belt so they are happy to offer that instead of a direct steal. -
These are delightful, Virginia. OMD they are so cute. What fun!
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