As dog owners what we really want is companionship and having fun with our dogs. Teaching them tricks is one way to go about this. With a lot of patience and practice, our dogs can perform some great tricks.
The fastest way to create great results is to be generous in rewarding your dog for good performance. Positive reinforcement will help you to keep your dog motivated.
Moreover, it is a good idea to keep the practice sessions short. A few minutes at a time is the best you can do. If you make the sessions too long, your dog may grow tired or annoyed as a result of repeating the trick over and over and over again.
To make your dog enjoy the training sessions, finish each session off with a short playing session. Okay, so let’s get going… what tricks can you teach your dog?
The trick “paw”: This is a fairly popular, yet simple trick. All it requires is for your dog to shake your hand. First, have your dog sit in front of you. Then gently lift his paw off the floor and while doing so give the verbal command “paw”.
Do this a few times and give him a treat every time when saying “paw”. Then finally hold out your hand and say “paw,” and wait for your dog to place his paw in your hand by himself. DO not forget to reward him every time he gets it right.
Catch: Catch is probably one of the simplest tricks you’ll teach since it’s going to come naturally to most dogs.
The point of this trick is for you to throw a treat into the air and for your dog to catch it before it falls to the floor. Of course, you need to make sure that the treat is not too small to see and not too large – you would not want your dog choking on it.
Some dogs do not find this trick too easy. If it does not come naturally to your dog, and he struggles, do not make a big deal out of it. It is not required for your dog to be able to perform the trick perfectly from the get go. Just be patient with him.
Learn more about Hund erziehen. Stop by Dirk Gruenberg’s site where you can find out all about Hundeerziehung and what it can do for you.
