Wow, okay I read this post and I HAD to reply. I agree with whoever said they hoped the lady wasn't their trainer. :hair:Cause let me tell you, I work for PetSmart AND I am one of their trainers. As far as our training goes in store, yeah all they teach you is the dog obedience stuff. I end up looking up new tricks, solutions, etc on my own. My own background is in wildlife training and management. And from personal experience you can train ANYTHING. I mean I trained a pot bellied pig to fetch, rat do an obstacle course, parrot to accept touch, and the list goes on. I remember my training teacher (at my school program) showing us something on a goldfish being taught to follow a laser pointer light and follow that through an underwater obstacle course.
The problem with what that lady more than likely doesn't understand is what consists of training. :backtoschool: for her! Training is not merely obedience and tricks, it can include things like desensitization - for example getting your chinchilla use to being touched or learning to ignore environmental noises. And as far as both dog training goes and wildlife training goes using reward based methods you have three parts to it 1) the cue, can be verbal (a word said) , hand signal,noise, visual 2) marking the behavior - which in dog training is the clicker usually or using a verbal "Yes!" will do. You can use those for chins too. and 3) giving a release word, followed by the "reward" which can be food, praise, touch (like scratching the dog or giving scritches to the chin) or even toys.
Anyhow the whole training stuff is constantly evolving as people learn more and more but yes you can train a chin. If you want to use the clicker you would start by clicking and presenting the reward. Once they learn to associate that click with the reward you can begin to train other things. What you are wanting to to find a way to get the chin to do what you want, the second they do it, click and reward. Once they get the mechanics of what is wanted you can start to associate a cue with it. My chins are somewhat trained but not to do any tricks, although I am thinking of it. But I tap on the dust house, and they all go crazy with wanting to roll in the dust. They learned to associate that that sound means they will get a bath, Pavlov's theory for you right there. Same thing when the cheerios come out. that shaking sound means treat. I have them wait on the scale. And the biggest one for me, NO biting fingers. I really had to work on that one since I have a roommate I cannot get to stop playing chicken with her finger even though I have told her not to and the why. Oh yeah, and getting my D'Artagnan not to bite, that took some training. As far as "tricks" you could get the chin to do some, you just have to think of what they are physically capable of and base your tricks on that. They could learn to spin in a circle for instance, sit on a specific "mark" (like a ledge) , hi five, etc.
OKay I am off my soap box. But you tell that lady to call store 1569, I'll set her straight! :waiting:Haha. (small disclaimer, there are some animals who are uninterested in rewards or that you have to find the right reward for. But this can happen with any animal, not just chins. They can still be trained but it may take longer or they may not progress as far as fast.)
