For those of you with aspirations of film roles or those who just want to scare unwelcome visitors here is the way to train your pooch to hold onto a trouser leg. Perhaps some will say a how stupid but Ozzie has been paid on many occasions for just such a trick!This however, can only be taught to dogs that have a good HOLD in the first place. Dogs have to know what hold means and that when commanded 'leave ' will let go!
Get yourself an old pair of trousers that you will not be using any more. Then cut a hole in the right hand leg about 4 inches or 10 cms from the bottom on the outside.
Now you will need a piece of material about 4 to 6 inches wide and long enough to thread from your trouser waistband down the leg and out of the hole protruding about 6 inches or 15 cms.
Now you have to hold onto the top end of the material and command your dog to HOLD and PULL on the bit coming out of the bottom. If you do not hold on at the top the material will just get pulled through completely. If he is reluctant to take the material tease him with it, drag along the ground and get his attention to it. This must be FUN!!!!!!
When Fido is hanging on let him pull the material out of the bottom a little way and then when he is really holding on pull it back again so that he is learning to hold when the material is moving and this way you can slowly decrease how much you are letting him pull.
To get him to let go on this occasion you can CLICK first, a clicker trained dog will immediately let go in anticipation and you can reward immediately. When you are making him let go reliably you can then add the CUE word LEAVE.
Gradually make the material smaller and smaller so that eventually Fido will be holding on to the actual trouser leg. You can show him the bottom of the trouser and say HOLD and when he takes it in his mouth say PULL. When he has a good grip start to pull your leg away and move it about encourage him to keep hanging on. No you should be able to walk away (or try to) with him hanging on for dear life!
Giving the LEAVE command is also important and always reward with a Click and Treat.
Now you can sit your dog away from you, point to your trouser leg and say Hold and Pull. Build up the distance from which you ask him to come and get it and eventually just the words will trigger him into dashing up and hanging on to your trouser bottom.
For a really professional finish so to speak let someone else wear the trousers and you command Fido from a distance to do the business!!!!
Quite a useless trick I suppose but as I said it can be a lucrative one in the world of show biz!!!!!! Why not give it a go! How often do you see a dog on the television or in films doing just this? Holding and pulling are often requested so perhaps it may not be so useless after all!!!!!!