I'm in the middle of 'advance training' my lab. He knows all the basics (sit, down, come, heel, side, up, off, speak...and so on), many tricks, and has pretty much got the 'turn on' command down. His only problem was that the walls were slippery, and being an english lab, he's on the shorter, stockier side which makes it a little hard for him to stretch up towards the light.

Anywho...I'm wanting to teach him how to also turn off the light, but I don't know where to start. I want him to use his nose (not his paws), but maybe it would be easier to teach him "On" with his nose and "Off" with his paws?

I don't know...any ideas?

Its alot of fun teaching dogs tricks such as these... and beneficial for people who may have a handicap and the dog is a service dog.

I had a Doberman Rott mix and I tought him to turn the lights on and off for me. He turned the lights on with his nose, since it was fairly easy to bump the switch up. But I had a hard time teaching him to turn them off. He would gladly paw the light switch but I soon realize the wall was starting to be damaged for his pawing, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> probably even more so from his size. He weighed 100lbs and was very tall. So this is what I done. I attached a string with a knot in the end and taught him to just walk over and pull the string with his teeth. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Im sure you have your reasons for wanting to teach your dog in certain ways and thats great. I just thought I'd share my story of how my ideas weren't quite the same as my dogs. lol

Chastity, how did you keep the string from being pulled completely off the switch in the "off" position?

This can be made much easier by replacing the switch with one that is pressed to turn on and then pressed again to turn off. The switch is then covered with a board that has a "bump" where the switch is and is hinged on the upper edge. Then the dog just has to press anywhere on the board to change the condition of the light. If you make the board long enough even an elderly dog can do it.

Or installing the "Clapper". One bark for on, two for off. Walk a cat down the street for a psychedelic effect.

Well see that was my first problem... I couldnt figure out how to keep the string on lol. But I was 16 at the time and I asked my dad for help, which he was more than happy to do after seeing th wall <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> . So he etched a knotch (line) across the top of the switch in a slant so that the string fit right into the groove. The string was tied tight enough it didint slip out. Of course Lou is totally right about the way he describes. I just done a half a$$ job <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />. And my dad humored me. I did it just because I tried to teach him anything possible. My biggest mistake was teaching him to open the fridge! But it later came in handy when I needed him to open the dryer for me with an armful of wet clothes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />.

If you can set up your switch the *right* way then thats better... but I improvised. I have also seen pull strings attached in senior homes so that if they fall they can pull the cord and it flips the switch to show a red light signaling trouble... and they were attached by drilling a small hole through the side/tip of the switch.

You can make a "dummy" switch easily and cheaply with parts from a hardware store - just attach the switch to a piece of wood and viola! This saves wear and tear on your walls as you go through the many many iterations of shaping the behavior you want.

When you are ready to transfer to the wall, you can get a piece of clear plastic and cut out a rectangle in the middle as big as the light switch. That way the wall around the switch is protected.