by Riley Salkowski

For the most part dogs are enthusiastic to do what their owners want and try their best to please when it comes to getting a reward for doing so. These are dog charateristics that need to be exploited when it comes time to teach them tricks. It’s important to take advantage of their natural predilections. By building on these natural ‘dog’ charateristics and behaviors in combination with rewards to develop pet tricks, the procedure becomes easier than trying to teach a trick from the ground up.

Have a look at your dog and try to determine what he or she does for fun. Does he chase butterflies? Does he crawl on his belly? If you think you see him doing something that would make a marvelous trick, then you’re already halfway there. You’ll want to use the same hand motion every time the dog does it, and then you’ll want to provide a treat. By using this method the dog will know a treat is coming and be more than happy to do the trick whenever you display the hand motion.

For most dogs there are dietary requirements that you’ll need to pay mind to, and bearing that in mind you shouldn’t actually give your dog an excessive amount of treats. Treats are a great way to get started, but later on the hand signals and some praise will suffice. When you get everything down pat, you can decrease the amount of treats or stop giving them period.

Most dogs don’t take very long to get the hang of it because they recognize quickly that when they do the trick they get the treat. This makes the training pretty simple, and you can use simple commands as a gateway to other tricks. One example might be using the command ‘down’ instead of ‘play dead’. This will be a good starting point, and eventually you can move on to ‘play dead’. ’stay’, ‘come’, and ’sit’ will also come naturally to the dog once a little bit of practice is done.

Another way to get your dog to pay close attention while you are trying to perfect tricks is to use their favorite toy. You can dangle this close to your dog’s nose and say ‘jump’. It may take a few minutes, but the dog will soon realize that the word ‘jump’ means…well…jump. After a while you won’t even need the toy.

Your dog’s ability to smell is a huge factor in the training. One thing that you can do is play a little game with your dog that involves hiding a favorite toy or treat and then having them find it. You can start out by putting the toy in a close location so that it’s easy for them to find the object, and when they become more adept at that you can hide it farther away so that they have to work for it. After a while you will be able to use this as a viable trick to entertain your dog as well as any guests that you might have.

Do you want your dog to “high five” you? A great way to train for this trick is to use your dog’s attachment to you as his owner and perhaps his automatic behavior of presenting you his paw. You can stimulate this by kneeling in front of your dog, presenting your “paw” and speaking the command “high five”,”five”,”give me five”, “shake”, or whichever command you decide to employ. When he reacts correctly, reward him with praise or a treat. He will rapidly get the idea.

Often the dog will present you his paw at once. With some dogs you will need to help them get the idea by raising their paw while using the vocal command. Remember to praise even if you have to lift his paw into position, then put the paw back down and repeat.

When a trick has been taught it’s simple to expand it. “Give me five” can without difficulty be extended into “sit up” by slowly lifting the paw so that the other paw will spontaneously raise up. By then holding both feet so that the dog is in a “sit up” position, vocalizing the command and rewarding with praise or a treat, he will, with repetition, connect the dots.

There are many different things you can do to train a dog. Whether you do it for behavior control, house breaking, or just tricks, you’ll find that this greatly strengthen the bond between you and your dog. This is a great way to become closer to your dog.

About the Author:
Get important information, tips, and techniques about Dog Training and Care. Also Learn about picking the best Dog Bedding for your dog. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.

Related posts:

  1. Use Your Dog’s Natural Activities to Teach Tricks
  2. Tricks Training Using Your Dog’s Spontaneous Actions
  3. How To Teach A Puppy Not To Bite – 7 Steps To Remember

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!