How to Teach Dogs Tricks

Posted by Gerald Njuguna on September 12th, 2007 at 04:05pm

Who said old dogs cannot learn new tricks? Dogs of all ages can learn new something new. In this lesson, your dog will be able to learn the simplest of all dog tricks ie sit, lie down and stay. These tricks are excellent building blocks of new and complex dog tricks.

“Sit” Trick

To teach your dog how to “sit,“ get a treat in your hand. Place your hand close to the dog’s nose and tell him to sit.
As you say “sit”, move the dog treat over the dog’s head towards his tail. the dog will sit naturally as he follows the treat. After he completes this behavior successfully, give him the treat and at the same time praise him loudly. Say something like “good dog!” As you teach the dog, always give him the food treat and at the same time praise the dog verbally.

With time the dog will associate the word “sit” with this behavior so you need to slowly stop giving him the treats. At the same time you will need to teach your dog a command to release such as “okay!“ to train him to discontinue each behavior. Its recommended that when teaching the dog to sit, do the session in 10 minutes or less and afterwards follow up with a play session.

“Lie Down” Trick

To train the dog on how to “lie down,” first get the dog in a sitting position. Next, hold a treat in your fingers then place your hand near the dog’s nose. Utter the word “lie down,“ then place the treat straight down on the floor.As your hand goes down and the dog follows the treat, he naturally positions himself in the down position. when he lies down properly, verbally praise him and give him the treat.

Using a release command like “okay!“ will assure the dog that its okay for the pet to stop lying down. As with all commands, when he begins to associate the behavior with the verbal command, start to wean him from the food reward.

“Stay” Trick

To train the dog how to “stay,” first have the dog in a sitting or down position. Get a treat in your hand & command your dog to “stay” while having the other hand in front of the dog’s nose with the palm open. When the dog stays on the same position for 2 seconds, praise him and give him his treat and use the release command. In due course, you will need to increase the length of time before you reward him as he gets used to the instructions.

Now that your dog has learnt these basic but fundamental tricks, its time to teach him other cool tricks.

A popular and fun trick is to teach him how to play dead. To teach him this trick, command the dog to lie down first. You then need to show him how to roll on his back. Do this by holding a treat in front of his nose with your hand and moving the same hand in small circle while giving him the command “play dead.” His nose naturally follows the treat causing his body to follow until he is on his back. Then reward the dog verbally and with the treat

With time, the dog will associate the command with the particular behavior so wean him off the food reward.

“Shake” Trick

Want to teach your dog how to shake your hand? Easy.. Get the dog in a sitting position first. With the treat in your hand, say “shake” and gently place your hand below his paw and gently lift it up to a shake position then give him the yummy treat. Repeat this several times until he learns and realizes that he will get his treat if he lifts his paw by himself.

As he learns to “shake”, please reward his efforts at getting himself into position by giving him treats and praise. With time, it will become easy for him to lift his paw every time he hears the command “shake”.

Bow Trick

Another cool trick to teach your dog is to “bow.” This trick allows the dog to be in a natural position. First of all, get the dog in a sitting position. You should have the treat ready in your hand and hold it in front of his nose then say the command “bow.” Immediately push the treat towards the dog’s chest. His instinct will be to naturally follow the treat and his head will twist to a bow position. When he does this successfully, reward him with the treat at the same time praising him out loud.

Teaching tricks to your dog will be rewarding to you as well as the dog. There are experts out there on the internet that will teach you simple and complex do tricks.

Below are cool dog trick being performed by Denim and Howser 

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