FUN & TRICKS

ATTENTION
This is the kind of "attention" you want while training. To train for this, please see the "Watch Me" section on the dog training menu.

SHAKE HANDS
Have your dog sitting in front of you and give him the "Shake" command and immediately lift his paw and give him a treat. Praise him!! Although he has no clue what he just did it sure felt good to him and he got a treat to boot! Do this several times and before long he will be lifting his paw when he hears the word "Shake" and sees your hand in front of him. The second he does it on his own PRAISE him to high heaven and gee, maybe give him 2 treats!

PLAY DEAD
Put your dog in the "down" position and give him the command "Play Dead" and gently lure his head over with a treat until he is laying on his side, repeat "Play Dead" as you do this. Pay attention to how the dog is laying down and judge accordingly which way to lure him into the "play dead" as you want him to be able to do it easily and not have to switch hips. Don't expect him to stay there for very long at first. As you work on this exercise, extend the lenght of time his head is on the ground. The longer you work on this the steadier he will become. Hold the treat away from his nose but on the floor so his head stays down. Give him a "release word" to allow him to get up such as "Good Boy" or "OK" and give a treat. Once your dog learns this exercise, you should be able to give him the "Play Dead" command even from a standing position.

TURN
"Turn" means to turn in a tight circle. Have a treat in your hand and slowly turn it around the dog, he will naturally follow the goodie. If you get your puppy to go half way around, treat him. Continue to work on this making him turn more each time. You will eventually say "Turn" and he will continue to flip around in a circle.

GUESS WHICH HAND
This is a magical game of sorts, or so some people think! Actually you are using your dogs keen sense of smell which is easy for him! Put a dog treat in one hand, make both hands a fist and show them to your dog. Keep your hands about 6" apart. Give the command "Which One" and watch your dog sniff out the biscuit! The second he does GIVE it to him!!! What's even cuter is to have the dog touch the hand with the goodie in it with his paw. If you don't open the hand immediately, some dogs will start pawing at it. Let them! They will learn they have to touch the hand before getting the treat.

ROLL OVER
Start with the dog in the down position, give him the command "Roll Over" and gently lure him with a treat into rolling over. Or you can start with him in the "Play Dead" position and hold a biscuit in front of him and move the biscuit to make him roll over. Either way, you want him to totally roll over. The key to this trick and the play dead trick is to make sure your dog first learns his "down".

CRAWL
While the dog is in a down position, hold a treat in front of his nose but away from it and lure him into having to go towards it by crawling. You will need to gently hold your left hand on his shoulders to discourage him from getting up. If he crawls one step YES or CLICK/TREAT immediately! You'll eventually not have to hold his shoulders and he will crawl farther and farther. Teaching this trick and combining it with the "play dead" is cute, cute, cute!

WAVE
Once your dog knows the "shake hands" it's an easy thing to teach him to wave. Normally for the shake you would hold your hand open for the dog to put his paw in. For the wave, simply hold your hand farther away from him. He will naturally lift his paw and "paw" at you to try and hit your hand. What I do is change my signal for the "wave" to a sort of "come here" motion with my index finger.

SIT UP
**Do not do this trick with young puppies as you don't want them to injure their back**
With your dog in the sit position, lure him up with a treat...keeping the treat fairly close to his nose. You want him to sit up on his hind end, not stand up in this trick. To start with, it is easier for the dog to have something behind him to brace him while in the sit up, such as a cabinet or wall. At first the dog may "hold" your arm to steady himself...this is fine. Be sure to YES or CLICK/TREAT him for the effort. This does take some coordination on the dogs part, so be patient.

Once your puppy learns each behavior, you can combine tricks. For example, have him do the "turn" and then immediately the "sit up." Combining tricks in a sequence is fun to do and fun to watch!

Most of all have FUN with your puppy! Teaching tricks is a great bonding experience for both of you. Anytime you do any type of "training" whether it be tricks or basic obedience, remember to always wind up with your puppy doing something correct. If he is excellent at the "sit" then have him sit, treat him and then ALL DONE!