Dog Training Tricks

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We have all watched movies with totally adorable dogs as the stars. Sure there may be a well known human face on the screen as well, but everyone knows who the real star is – the pooch. You’ve almost certainly seen the likes of Lassie and Beethoven performing some amazing stunts and it’s obvious that large amounts of time and probably money has gone into producing these kind of results. So the question is “can your ordinary loveable pet learn the best dog training tricks, without the big budget?” and the answer is a resounding yes. OK, maybe they won’t be quite up there with the top dogs but simple tricks such as to wave, play dead, shake hands, dance and crawl are well within the scope of most dogs.

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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what are some tricks and ways to train my doggies? I have 2 dogs, a male and female! VERY BIG! I need some tricks to teach them that would win a pet show and some cheap and easy ways to train them and have the equipment!! Thanks, ♥Mickey

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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