After yesterday’s blog, I was asked about teaching a dog how to blow bubbles  so I started the trick with Rio and took video.
With Rio, he offers a similar behavior when drinking from deep buckets/bowls when he’s hot so I figured I could easily shape it.  Sure enough, in about 12 minutes of training (about 18minutes total), he was offering the behavior.  I started with a very loose criteria (look at the bowl) and ended with requiring a half-second of bubbles.
The video is a little long, but it takes you step by step as I increased the criteria!  Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH91cYhrFUg]
I taught this to Shayne a few years ago and used a completely different method.  She doesn’t like water on her face (shocking giving her joy with jumping into the water nowadays) so I figured I’d be fighting a losing battle trying to shape it.  With her I used a lure to get her to put her nose in the water.  I dropped a piece of kibble in the water and as she put her nose in the water to get the food I clicked.  It was a different route but we got the same results.
If anyone takes up training this trick and you want to film it, put a link to your video in the comments!