Dog Training Tricks

When you first get a dog whether it’s a new puppy or an older dog, you want to be able to have fun with him and the best way to do that is to teach him some basic dog training tricks. There are numerous tricks that you can teach your dog including many complicated routines, however irrespective of the breed of dog you should always start with simple tricks first. It is also important to remember that although the principle reason for teaching your dog training tricks is for you both to have some fun, if you make the learning interesting enough backed up with a suitable reward you will also be teaching your dog a very important lesson in obedience.

As previously mentioned, there are a multitude of tricks that your dog can learn but the best place to start is with simple verbal commands such as sit, stay and lay down. Now while these may not strictly be thought of as tricks they are useful for your dog to learn and will be very helpful when it comes to your own handling of your dog at a later date.

When starting with ‘real’ dog training tricks one of the best and easiest to teach your dog is hello or the simple hand shake. This trick is totally endearing to see any dog perform from the tiniest pooch to a Great Dane and is something that your dog will really enjoy performing, also it’s a trick that comes very naturally to them.

Once you taught your dog to sit, by simply putting some pressure on his rump with the clear command ‘sit’, kneel or sit in front of him, hold your hand out and keep it there for a few seconds. Next lift his paw and place it in your outstretched hand and gently shake it, put the paw back down and with a big grin on your face give him a treat. (the grin on your face is very important as your dog will pick it up, remember dog training tricks are a two way street). Repeat this process as often as you can and be persistent. After not too long when you hold your hand out you will find that your dog will automatically lift his paw for you to hold, at that stage gently shake his paw and say hello. This will always get a big ‘Ahh’ from anyone in the room and kids absolutely love it.

Have you ever walked down the street and seen a dog walking next to its owner carrying a newspaper or bag? How cool is that and it’s not that difficult for your dog to learn. It’s natural instinct for many dogs to hold things like a small ball or stick in their mouth, all you need to do is train them to hold specific objects and not run off with them. This dog training trick consists primarily of four clear commands – sit, take, come and release. As before with your dog in front of you give the command to sit, when your dog has sat, take the straps of the bag or the rolled up newspaper and get your dog to hold it in its mouth with the command “take”, let him hold the object for only a minute or so then gently remove the object with the command “release”. Once your dog has done this make a fuss and give him a treat.

Repeat this process several times over the next few days until rather than you having to place the object in your dog’s mouth, he will take it on the command “take” and let go on the command “release”. Again make sure your dog is rewarded for his actions. Lastly with your dog sitting and holding the object walk about 10 yards away, with the command “stay” if necessary, then pat your leg and encourage him to come to you with the command “here”. Again when he comes to you with the object give him a treat. If he drops the object before he comes to you stop him in his tracks and start again from the command sit. You will be surprised how quickly he learns to come to you with the object in his mouth. These are only a couple of dog training tricks that you can teach your dog and you can find many more in various books and videos that you can find online.

Watch a FREE dog training video HERE

Lastly, throughout this article I have used the term ‘him’ or ‘his’ when referring to your dog, it goes without saying that the same applies to the obviously more intelligent female of the species J

Mike Hooker

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Before we can teach any tricks your pet must have mastered the basic dog obedience commands such as sit, stay, lay and heel and for our purposes here I will assume that this is the case. If not there is plenty of information available for you to teach your dog these basics.

Let’s start with a very simple dog training trick and that is to shake hands. Now here is a quick tip, for some reason – and I will admit to not knowing exactly why – many dogs will automatically place their paw into your hand if you hold it out. So first of all just try simply getting your dog to sit and hold out your hand, if your dog then moves its paw towards your hand gently take it and pet her telling her what a good girl she is (that’s presuming she is a girl J). Then do the same again, only this time before you hold out your hand give the clear command ‘shake’ then hold out your hand, again make a fuss once she has put out her paw and repeat this about five times, no more, as you do not want your dog to get bored. The object of the exercise here is to get your dog to associate the word shake with the action of putting out its paw and being rewarded. Eventually just the command shake will have the desired effect before you even put your hand out.

If on the other hand your dog doesn’t feel inclined to place its paw in your hand when you hold it out, just give her a little bit of help by gently picking up her paw and placing it in your hand with the command ‘shake’. You will be surprised how quickly your pet will pick this up.

Once your dog has mastered shaking hands it’s but a simple step to teach her  another dog training trick and that is to wave. Once your dog is sitting, place your hand about five or six inches away and as she lifts her paw to greet you, move it slightly to the right and then slightly to the left saying something like ‘wave girl’. As she follows  your hand with her paw increase the distance slightly. If she gets bored and puts her paw down pat her and start again from the starting position and this time give her a treat after the third or fourth wave while all the time enforcing the command ‘wave girl’ or something similar. One thing to remember in any of these exercises is to keep the command short and once established do not change it in any way.

I mentioned earlier that your dog must have mastered the basic commands in order to go on to more complex dog training tricks and this can be demonstrated when teaching your dog to crawl. Give her the command to lay, then get down as much as you can to her level and keep your hand just above the floor and motion her towards you, if she starts to get up, go back to the command ‘lay’ and again motion for her to come towards you when she moves a few steps in the crawling position make a big fuss and give her a treat. This process often works better if you use her favourite toy when motioning her to you from the laying position.

The main thing to remember when teaching the best dog training tricks is to keep them simple to start with and make sure that your dog has a routine to follow and that is a motion (sit, crawl, lay) followed by a clear short command and a reward once these are followed. Start with simple commands and then build on them and soon your dog will go from laying to crawling, rolling over and playing dead, however always remember in all of this to have some fun

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Just like with your hairdresser, where they work has little to do with skill level. So no matter where you go you may run into a very skilled trainer or a person that can’t even tie their own shoes. I have little to no interest in a puppy that did not start training at three days of age. From that point on it isn’t a question of should there be training, it’s a question of what kind of training. @ 12 weeks “fear memory” has developed so the window for some things has already closed. At this point everything in the puppy’s development needs to be kept on a fun basis only because it will not have the cognitive skills to properly understand a correction. Take advantage of the puppy’s natural food motivation at this stage.

At approximately 6 months of age the pup will suddenly start to demonstrate a new found feeling of independence and self awareness. (very noticeable change of behavior) At this point “formal” training can begin because this behavior change indicates that food motivation is being replaced by other motivations, and that the pup does have the cognitive development to properly understand training.

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We can spout off good foods until we all turn blue, but it’s all a matter of which ones you can find. A good dog food is typically made just of meats, without a grain. But, if there is a grain, it must be wholesome. Dogs, being carnivores, do not process grains well at all. You want to look for a food that doesn’t use filler (corn, wheat and brewers rice) and no by-product. They’re used to make cheap dog foods and don’t do anything good for the dog. More is digestible in these foods, which leads to a better formed stool, and less of it. And, a healthier dog. For the price tags, you dog will end up eating much less for the same nutritional equivalent of nutro max or pedigree. They feel full faster, and are not always looking for food, and you’ll notice a difference in his coat after just a few weeks.

My dog, a german shepherd/mastiff mix, is said to need to eat 71/2 cups a day of pedigree to stay healthy. He eats maybe 4 a day of Taste of the Wild, and will actually leave food in the bowl. Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Innova, Canadae, Nutro Ultra (only Ultra is the good one, not the others), Taste of the Wild, Eagle Pack… the list goes on. Check some of these out online to get an idea of what you need to look for, then hit your local pet store and find one you like.

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The theory behind crate training is that a dog does not like to mess his den. The crate is the den, and your pup will try to keep it clean. Crate training is therefore a housebreaking aid. Rather than have the pup loose in the house unsupervised, when you can’t devote attention to it puppy goes in the crate. Because the pup does not want to make a mess in his den, he will cry, bark or otherwise alert you to the fact that he needs “out”. Cue the pup by asking “Do you want to go OUT?” You take the pup outside to the designated potty area. Repeat the cue “Go OUT” (or any other word or phrase you wish to use – I tell mine to “hurry up”) and praise when he does his business.

Sometimes at first it works backwards…pup messes the crate then cries, but this phase is usually short lived IF the pup has been raised in a clean environment. They discover quickly that if they alert you first, they can avoid messing their own house.

Teaching a dog to use a crate simplifies the training process because it is not dependent on you being alert to the pup’s activities every minute of the day and night. None of us can devote 24/7 to a new puppy, and the crate is simply a safe place to leave the dog for those periods when you are away, asleep or otherwise occupied. Aside from helping with housebreaking, being in a crate prevents your puppy from getting into trouble with things like chewing. That said, the crate is NOT a place to leave the dog all the time. Puppies need interaction with their human pack in order to learn proper manners, and to continue the housebreaking process by learning to ask for “out” while loose in the house.

Some people only use crates while the dog is growing up, others always crate their dogs when they are away. Once the dog is trained, it’s up to you whether to continue using the crate.

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There are many cheap ways to train a dog, but it’s not always quick and easy. Now I’m apparently an ‘old school’ trainer in that I use a leash and a training collar. A correction isn’t cruel if you use it at the right time with the right amount of quick pressure. In fact, animals will learn faster if they receive consistent positive and negative reinforcement compared to having just positive or negative alone. I also avoid food rewards in my training. It will only serve to distract them. Use praise and lots of petting as a reward. They should do a trick because it is fun and they want to please you, not for food.

Now my experience is more the obedience training and not the ‘trick’ training. I did take my other pets to pet shows at the county fairs, and was awarded grand prize because of my knowledge of my birds, not because of any tricks they could do. If you want to do tricks, do something that will entertain the crowd, not the run of the mill sit, stay, down stuff.

For larger breeds, you might teach them how to ‘jump rope’. Jump is an easy command to teach. Put a stick in front of your dog, gently press it towards his foreleg and give the command ‘jump’. He’ll have to jump it in order to keep his balance. Gradually move the stick a little further away and start leading the dog towards it while giving the command. Start with it low to the ground and gradually raise it higher. Then switch to using clothesline or nylon rope. If they master that, get someone to help you swing the long rope like a jumprope. Be sure to start really slow and gentle and give the command to ‘jump’ every time the rope swings around. Eventually it’ll speed up so it looks like actually jumping rope. If you can get your dogs to do this in tandem, it’d be even more impressive.

If the simple obedience tricks are more your style, then do something to wow the judge like teach your dog a few different commands in several different languages. If I were a pet show judge, I’d be unimpressed with a dog that knew how to sit, but I’d be impressed if the dog knew how to sit in english, spanish, and french!! It’s hard to tell you what you should do for sure, because each pet show is different. I’d call whoever is putting it on and ask them for a list of categories they’re going to judge the pets on.

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In the main there are two types of food that you can give your dog – wet food and dry food.

Wet Food

Wet food is a more natural meal for a dog and would be what his ancestors would have eaten in the wild. Remember although your dog is tame its nature is feral and back in the wild it would have no doubt eaten animals whole, fur, feathers and all. So don’t think you have to go out and buy the best steak available as your dog will happily chew on a tougher cut and will digest it just as easily. Also you don’t need to be so fussy on the age of the meat, obviously you want to feed him the best dog foods and it goes without saying that you wouldn’t feed your dog rancid meat, but if it is a little older than you would probably like for yourself, it will still be ok for your dog. Dogs have very robust digestive systems and nature has already given them the tools to cope naturally with anything they would find in the wild.

Give A Dog A Bone

Dogs absolutely love bones, if you can get them from your local butcher and give one to your dog every few days it will do him the power of good. Not only will it help keep their teeth clean but they will have great fun hiding it and retrieving it at a later stage. Always remember however that all dogs are jealous of their possessions and a bone is no exception. Never try and take a bone away from your dog no matter how placid or gentle it is as most dogs will turn if you try to take away their bone and never under any circumstances let a child play with a dog when it has a bone.

Dry Food

Over recent years there has been a marked rise in the use of dry foods in a dog’s diet, to the extent that some dogs feed entirely on dry food. Now while they may get used to eating dried food, you must remember that this isn’t their natural diet.

If you are looking for best dog foods in a dry mix take extra care to check out the ingredients listing and make sure you try as much as possible to avoid preservatives. All processed dog foods often contain preservatives and dry foods in particular have them added during the manufacturing process. Dry dog food is processed at very high temperatures and some studies have shown that when some preservatives are heated they undergo a change in their chemical makeup which may in turn lead to long term damage to some internal organs.

Many cheaper dry dog foods make up their bulk with fillers like soy, wheat and corn which are not ingredients your dog would normally choose to eat. They will be more cost effective and will fill your dog up, but they are very definitely not among the best dog foods. Try to pick a dry food that is composed mainly of dried fish and meat protein which have added vitamins and no preservatives. Obviously if your dog has any specific allergies you should consult your vet before choosing which type of food would be best for your dog.

Mike Hooker

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Firstly dogs are den animals, that is to say they like to be in enclosed areas for security. Have you ever noticed how a dog will often take a bone or some other item underneath a table to chew? Also crate training can be very beneficial for you and most comfortably for your puppy when transporting it in a car or on a visit to the vets. So it would appear therefore that the sooner your puppy can get used to a crate the better it will be for everybody.

One of the other benefits of puppy crate training is also house training and is based on the assumption that a dog will not soil an area where it has to settle. For this reason it is important that you do not have the crate too big as your dog will just use the other end as its bathroom! So how big should the crate be? Well that will depend on the size of your puppy. As a rule of thumb the crate should just be big enough for it to stand up comfortably and to easily turn around.

Make sure the crate is comfortable and welcoming for your puppy by placing its blanket and favourite toys in there. Position the crate where it is out of the way but not isolated from the rest of the house and once you have decided where the crate will be situated – leave it there.

An important aspect of puppy crate training is that your puppy feels safe and secure in its crate and so you should not try to force him into it. Your puppy must want to go into the crate so the more inviting you can make it the better, so start by enticing him in with treats and games. Once your puppy first enters the crate only leave him there for short periods at a time and always make sure you are in clear sight so he can see you are there. Once he has got used to being in there you can start leaving him there for longer periods of time and leaving the room, always remembering that you must make sure he has relieved himself before you close the crate.

Fairly soon you will find that your puppy is happy and comfortable enough to doze off to sleep that is the time that the crate has become his den. This is also the time when you can start to leave him overnight, but a word of warning, this is also the time when you are going to have to become a little hard hearted. When you leave your puppy in the crate overnight for the first time it will start to cry and whine – guaranteed! No matter how many toys and blankets it has in there it will whine to come out and you of course will be the first to want to go and let him out. Don’t do it.  Remind yourself that he is in a warm comfortable place where normally he is happy to doze and that he will soon get used to it. You’ll be surprised how quickly he does. In general puppy crate training is a good thing and will be a desirable experience for your pup if you go about it the right way.

Mike Hooker

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Just as you started learning from the time you were laying in your crib looking around you, so a puppy is no different and the main way it learns is by playing. Watch any natural science programme of lion cubs playing in the wild and you’ll see that they will learn to sneak up on their brothers and sisters and pounce on them. While this is a game to them they are also learning valuable lessons on how to hunt when they get older.

Now obviously puppies are by nature mischievous and boisterous, but have you ever watched how an older dog will treat a new puppy that bounces into its life. It will roll him over on to his back with a soft growl. The older dog has no intention of harming the puppy, it is just showing him who the boss is. This is known as becoming the Alpha dog and just as the older dog becomes the alpha over the puppy so must you. Again you don’t need to be rough, just play a game tumbling him over the floor and make sure you always stay above the puppy. This type of puppy obedience training will ensure that he will get the message without even realising it

We all know that owning a new puppy can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can have, but they can also be the most tiring! Apart from the time when they start teething and decide that they are going to chew up the leg of granddads favourite Victorian chair to the inevitable puddle and parcel that will be left on the carpet, you are going to need patience! But now we come to a crucial factor with puppy obedience training and that is that you should never hit or threaten your dog. Ok no one is a saint and there will be times when you will yell and send your pup scurrying under a table for cover, that won’t do him any harm. I am talking here of persistent shouting and hitting your pup when it does something wrong as this will have the exact opposite effect to that which you wish to achieve.

If your dog has an accident and spoils the carpet don’t rub his nose on the mess so that he goes around with the smell under his nose all day – it doesn’t work. Furthermore if you are going to start to crate training your puppy, for goodness sake don’t use the crate as a punishment. You want him to feel that the crate is his home from home not a prison cell where he gets sent every time he does something wrong. Simply put, shouting at your puppy or even worse hitting him will only produce a nervous timid puppy, who will in turn become a nervous and timid grown dog and nervous dogs can be extremely unpredictable and anti social.

Some dog owners may feel that they need to resort to dog training devises to train their puppy but the thing is it really isn’t necessary. If you want to take professional advice on the best tried and tested methods of puppy obedience training go ahead. There are some great books and manuals that you can buy online which will help a lot. The bottom line however is to teach your pup simple commands backed up with lots of love and rewards when he does something you want him to do and in only a couple of months you will have an obedient little friend who will love you as much as you love him or of course her.

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