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Have you ever seen a well trained dog and thought, I wish my dog could do tricks like that? Well, if you’ve already taught your dog basic obedience you can teach your dog these 3 cute tricks to show off to your friends too.
It is probably the dream of most dog owners to be able to teach their dog to do some of the tricks they see other dogs doing. There is one thing they must remember, though, before starting down the path of teaching tricks. The dog must have at least some basic obedience. There is not much chance of teaching the dog to do tricks if he has never been taught basic obedience.
The basic commands such as sit, down, heel etc, should be taught to your dog before trick training starts. These basic commands will make life so much easier later on. Once these have been mastered you can begin to build on them. Your dog will soon be amazing your friends with the following 3 cute tricks.
How To Teach Your Dog 3 Cute Tricks:
Begging
To start teaching this trick, have your dog sit in a corner of the room with his back to the wall . You should be standing in front of him. The wall will support your dog so that he won’t fall over if he raises his front legs off the floor.
Take some small pieces of food and hold it above your dog while enticing him to reach up for it. Each time he takes the food, praise him. Repeat the procedure, slowly encouraging him to reach higher each time.
While encouraging your dog to reach up for the food, make sure that he is keeping his haunches on the ground. This is achieved by moving the food back over his head slightly, making the dog shift his weight back over his haunches and teaching him to keep his balance.
Once the begging trick has been mastered in the corner of the room you can gradually begin to move away from the wall. You can then practice the trick where your dog has no back support. You must expect at this stage that the dog will seem to go backwards in his learning. This is to be expected until he can perfect it by just using his own body weight.
Shaking hands
There are two parts of this trick for your dog to learn. A verbal part and a non-verbal part. Both work together to give the dog a cue that you want him to perform the trick.
First, the dog should start off in a sitting position. Give him a single word verbal command such as shake, while at the same time reaching out with your right hand until it is just a few inches from your dogs right front leg. Your outstretched hand is the non-verbal cue.
Initially your dog will probably just sit motionless unsure of what to do. So with your left hand, gently push or prod his right leg forwards until it rests in your right hand. When he has done this, praise him so that he knows he has done what you wanted him to do.
Practice this trick several times; praising after each successful result. Gradually reduce the amount of left hand prompting until only the verbal and non-verbal cues are all that are needed.
Shaking the head: No
Before you can begin to teach this trick to your dog, you will need to find something which will make him shake his head naturally. Some things which may help are blowing gently on his ear or tickling his ear with a feather.
Once you have found the method which makes him shake his head you will then have to decide on which verbal and non-verbal cue you want to use. A single word such as head along with shrugging of your shoulders is just one idea.
Again your dog should start in a sitting position when first teaching him this trick. As in the shaking hands trick, use both cues together. Then tickle your dog’s ear and wait for him to shake his head. Once he does, reward him, even if it is just a small movement.
This trick is best learned in short sessions with momentary breaks in between. Don’t try to repeat the exercise more that five times in one session or the dog will become confused and not learn.
Gradually reduce the amount of prompting so that all that are needed are the verbal and non-verbal cues. Once your dog has mastered the trick, he can be progressed to learn it in a standing position and laying position as well.
The main thing with training dogs to perform tricks is for the owner to learn that patience is a virtue. The dog will learn in his own time. Do not scold the dog if he does not seem to be learning, it is always better to be patient and encourage him more.
Related Article: 4 Secrets To Train Your Dog Like A Pro
