Teaching your dog tricks is fun and rewarding for both you and your dog!
Dogs love to show off and are happy to perform a trick at the drop of a hat. Teaching your dog a variety of tricks helps to keep her alert and stimulated, so take the time and teach your pet a trick or two.
Always make trick learning time fun time. Don’t extend it too long or
your dog will get bored and frustrated. It’s better to teach your dog a
few minutes every day than an hour once a week. Your dog will enjoy
the regular attention and you will see how quickly she progresses.
Dogs love to show off and are happy to perform a trick at the drop of a hat. Teaching your dog a variety of tricks helps to keep her alert and stimulated, so take the time and teach your pet a trick or two.
Some dogs are more intelligent than others and can learn a variety of
complex tricks with ease. Even dogs of average intelligence, however,
can learn complicated patterns by slowly building one dog trick on
another.
Some of the basic dog tricks include shaking hands, fetch, turn around and play dead.
To teach you dog how to shake hands, first have her sit down. Say
“Shake hands” and take her paw. While holding her paw say “Good dog!”
and then let her paw go. Practice this a few times a day for about a
week and then after a while try giving her the “shake hands” command
without taking her paw. Soon she will be lifting her paw whenever you
says “Shake hands.”
You can sometimes teach a new dog trick by being quick to react to her
regular behavior. For example, when your dog barks, you can say
“Speak!” and reward her with a treat. You might be able to make her
bark by acting excited – when she barks, give her the command and the
treat and she will soon connect the words with the trick!
Rewards such as doggy treats and praise should always be given when your
dog does a dog trick successfully. Dogs love praise and attention
almost as much as they love doggy treats, so a combination of the two
really helps to reinforce the tricks you are teaching.
Treats can also be used to guide your dog when teaching her new tricks.
Hold a treat in you hand and tell her “Turn around” as you move your
hand in a circle. She will naturally follow the treat with her nose and
learn to match the command with the action.
There are many tricks you can teach your dog. As well as the standard
ones, look for special dog tricks that only your dog can do! She may
have some quirky, funny behavior that you can teach her to repeat on
command. Always be alert for the opportunity to teach her a new dog
trick! They will help keep her healthy and happy!