Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog To Jump Rope

Difficulty: Hard

Teach Dog To Jump Rope 

This is a fun trick to teach your dog, and good exercise for him as well. Since this is a difficult trick, read the steps carefully and be patient with your dog. Soon he will be jumping rope, and loving it! If your dog is still young, you might want to wait before teaching him to jump rope: jumping too much may be hard on his hips. Before any jumping trick, always first check with your vet to see if your dog can handle it.

Step 1: Put your dog on the table. Ask him to jump. Click and treat. Your dog should stay in the same place so he won't fall off the table.

Step 2: Tie the jump rope to another object. Let your dog get used to the jump rope by moving it back and forth.

Step 3: Give the jump rope almost a full turn, stopping before it crosses your dogs legs. At this point, tell him to Jump. When he does, slide the jump rope underneath. Do this several times, clicking and treating.

Step 4: As your dog gets more accustomed to the jump rope, you will be able to have smoother rotations. Work with your dog until he can do it just right.

OUR EXPERIENCE

It took extra patience to teach Caspian jump-rope (and more than a few handfuls of treats), but hard work pays off. At first Caspian was distracted with the jump-rope, and he would get frustrated after long sessions, but as we practiced more and more he stopped thinking about the rope and started focusing on jumping. Once he did this, it became easier for us to work the rope, and soon the trick was working smoothly. Ever since Caspian's accident we haven't worked with this trick since jumping up and down stresses his back hip. If you have a larger dog breed or if your dog has any history of hip dysplasia, consult your veterinarian before attempting this trick.

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog is scared of the jump rope. How can I get him more used to it? When does he bow? Is it when he gets up from his nap to stretch? Or when he is meeting other dogs? Notice when he gets in that position and use that to shape the behavior.

Tip: "Try putting the jump rope on the table and under the dog before asking him to jump. That way, he will get used to seeing it under him. Don't use any big motions when using the jump rope to start out with. Small motions work best, and you can do fuller turns as your dog becomes more comfortable with the rope."

Dog Tric - Teach Your Dog To Bow

Difficulty: Easy

Teach Dog To Bow 

By now your dog most likely knows a whole repertoire of tricks, from simple ones like Sit to more complicated ones like Put Toys Away. With good treats, your dog can perform a string of impressive tricks for your friends—but you are still lacking one thing: an ending. The perfect way for your dog to to end a performance is the same way any professional does: with a bow. If you follow these three simple steps, you will be set up for a perfect dog show.

Step 1: Start 'rough-housing' with your dog. Whenever he starts to get into the "bow" position, click and treat. Keep doing this until he starts doing it on his own.

Step 2: Start saying "Bow" whenever he gets into the Bow position; then click and treat.

Step 3: Keep doing this until he will bow at your command! Always give your dog a jackpot when he obeys your command for the first time.

OUR EXPERIENCE

My dog loves to play. Whenever I would play with him, and start to chase him, I noticed that he would "Bow" by laying his front two legs down before he ran from me. I decided to shape this behavior into a "Take a Bow" trick. I started by chasing him. As soon as his front legs touched the floor, I clicked and treated. We did this again and again until he understood that I was clicking for his "Bow" position. Soon, he started to do it more frequently. I used the command "Bow" whenever I clicked. Eventually, Caspian was able to obey my command when I told him to bow. And it all started by playing a game of chase!

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog never bows when he is playful! When does he bow? Is it when he gets up from his nap to stretch? Or when he is meeting other dogs? Notice when he gets in that position and use that to shape the behavior.

Tip: "Although many trainers teach Bow by forcing the dog into a Bow position, we believe it is much easier and less frustrating to capture the natural behavior of your dog. We will use this way to teach "Take a Bow."

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog To Count

Difficulty: Moderate

Teach Dog To Count 

Here is a fun and impressive trick that proves that your dog is as smart as Einstein (mmm … or at least as smart as Einstein's dog). The trick is to get your dog to bark until a subtle cue causes him to stop. Then you can have him bark out any number of barks to answer various mathematical questions. This trick is not that hard to teach, but it does take patience and longer periods of time than most tricks in order to shape the behavior correctly. But it is really worth the effort because it shows that your dog really counts for something.

Step 1: Have your dog sit facing you.

Step 2: Hold a treat in your left hand and hold your right hand up. (Here we are getting the dog to associate the speak command with the visual command of holding your right hand up). Also look your dog in the eye (I look directly into his right eye).

Step 3: Have the dog speak, and treat when he barks.

Step 4: Repeat. But this time only drop your hand (also avert your eyes) and treat when he barks twice. (This may take some patience).

Step 5: Work on this several times a day until your little Einstein realizes he must continue to bark until you drop your hand.

Step 6: Gradually fade from holding your right hand up so that your dog will use your eyes as the cue to stop speaking.

Step 7: Keep refining this trick until he has a smooth flow of barks and stops as soon as you avert your eyes.

OUR EXPERIENCE

While teaching our dog to count, we started by re-familiarizing him with the speak command. While doing this, we introduced a small cue: looking down and staring at him directly into his right eye. When getting him to speak, we began with clicking right after he barked once, then once he was progressing well, we started clicking after multiple barks. Each time we wanted him to stop barking, we would immediately break our eye contact, and click and treat. Once this was accomplished, we could cue him to start barking by rotating our head down and looking at his right eye. Once he finished barking, we would break our eye contact, and reward him for a job well done. This is how Caspian can solve math problems given by friends, we keep him barking using this subtle cue. We just have to make sure we do the math right ourselves.

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog doesn't always stop barking on time! Keep working with him. This is why this trick takes lots of patience! If your dog (or you) makes a mistake during a performance, put your hands on your hips and say, "Oh! Einstein, I'm ashamed of you," which cues his Act Ashamed trick— for a good laugh.

Tip: "Have your guests think of simple math problems for your dog to answer, but make sure you do the math right!"

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog To Weave

Difficulty: Hard

Teach Dog To Weave 

When you watch dog agility competitions, one of the most spectacular sections has to be the weave poles. These championship dogs have trained hard and long to weave back and forth in between the poles at break-neck speed. Trainers say this is one of the hardest sections of agility competitions. Although there is difficulty involved, most dogs end up loving the weave poles. So even if you aren't trying to enter an agility competition, you can teach your dog this fun and exciting trick, using basic household products, and of course your clicker.

Step 1: Set up obstacles, such as orange cones (bought at Wal-mart), buckets, or even red plastic cups in a straight line. Start with three or four, and space them 24-30 inches apart. With your touch stick, guide your dog in and out of the obstacles, starting from the left side. When he goes in and out of one or two, click and treat. Continue to do this until he goes in and out of all of them.

Step 2: After getting your dog used to these motions, start saying "Weave" when he is finishing up his trick. Click and treat.

Step 3: Do this several times until your dog will weave at your command. This is a hard trick to teach, and it may take many training sessions. Fully expect your dog to go after the obstacles and try and play with them. Gently guide his attention back to your treats, and get him focused again on the touch stick.

OUR EXPERIENCE

Using the touch stick, I guided Caspian through each obstacle. At first, I clicked and treated as he went through two or three obstacles. Then, I would click and treat as he wove through each one. At the end, I would say "Weave!" and click and treat. We did this several times until Caspian could weave in a flowing tempo. Soon, I was able to use less touch stick and let him do it on his own.

TEACHING TROUBLE

He does it with the touch stick fine - but he won't do it on his own! If you think you have used the touch stick long enough and would like to have him do it on his own, but he's not responding, try using your finger to guide him. That will help him know what to do, and you can gradually get rid of the hinting.

Tip: "Encourage your dog to weave faster and faster! Make him excited by being excited yourself. Give him bigger treats if he goes at a fluent tempo."

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog to Walk by Your Left or Right Side

Difficulty: Moderate 

Teach Dog to Walk by Left or Right Side

Does your dog know his lefts and rights? This is an easy trick to teach. When you take him out on a leash, does he tangle it around your legs? It may be useful to tell him "Left" or "Right" and keep yourself untangled from the leash. Not only is this a good trick to show off your smart dog, this is a useful command that professionally trained assistance dogs are expected to learn.

Step 1: With your touch stick, have your dog go around your right side and stand by your left side. Click and treat.

Step 2: Keep doing this, eventually saying, "Left" as soon as he stands by your left side.

Step 3: Repeat this action until he no longer needs the touch stick and can go to your left side at your command.

Step 4: Do the same thing, this time teaching him to go from your left side to your right side.

OUR EXPERIENCE

When teaching Caspian left and right, we began by using the touch stick. We would motion him to both sides, and clicking/treating. However, he easily became confused, and didn't quite get what he was being clicked for. Sometimes there are more than one way to teach a trick, so what we ended up having him first sit, then we would turn around, and pat our leg as to which side we wanted him to go to. When we motioned with our hand, he would come to that side. As he did so, we would say the command either 'right' or 'left.' We then started just saying the command, and leaving out the hand motion, and only clicking/treating for a correct performance. We would mix up the commands, just to see if he really knew the difference between right and left. Using the touch stick is a great way to teach this trick, but you may feel the need to tweak the steps a little to suit your own needs.

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog is getting his left confused with his right! What do I do?

Try treating 'Left' and 'Right' as two separate tricks if this is happening. Usually, you want to teach both left and right so that your dog can differentiate between the two, but if he is getting easily confused, start with one, then move to the other. Try focusing on just one of them per training session. Hand cues are also important here: If your dog is paying attention and wants to find out what you're asking him to do, he'll look for hand signals, motions, or a direction from you to point him where he needs to go.

Tip: "You can gradually stop using the touch stick by guiding your dog with big hand motions. Then, you can make your hand motions smaller for a polished performance!"

Dog Trick - teach Your Dog to Act Ashamed

Difficulty: Moderate
teach  Dog to Act Ashamed 

Just as a comedian needs a handful of one-liners when his joke doesn't go over too well, it's good to have a trick to fall back on if your dog doesn't quite perform up to the level you were expecting. Lets say you have some dinner guests over, and you want to show off that new trick you taught Bella yesterday. You had taught her, and you're excited to show your friends how smart your dog is. Well, after telling her to retrieve your slippers, she's gone for a long time... after calling her, she comes slinking back with a slipper in her mouth, except it's completely chewed up. She drops the drool soaked mess of what used to be a comfortable slipper. Your dinner guests are trying their best not to laugh, they know you're embarrassed. Well, one trick that you did drill over and over is this one. "Bella! you should be ashamed of yourself!" Bella whines and lays down, puts her paw over her head. Your audience bursts into surprised laughter.


Step 1: Put some scotch tape or a sticky note on your dog's nose so that she paws at it. Click and treat.

Step 2: Repeat this a few times, but add in your command. Think of a short phrase such as "I'm Ashamed of you!" Use this command each time she paws at her nose.

Step 3: Take the tape off and give your command. Give her a jackpot if she paws at her nose!

Step 4: you wish, you can accompany this trick with her laying down. While teaching her, have her lay down before she paws at her nose.

OUR EXPERIENCE

This trick was so much fun to teach Caspian. I started with some scotch tape and put it on his nose. Since Caspian didn't want the tape on his nose, he naturally started pawing at it. Immediately I clicked and treated. Each time he did it, I would click and treat, saying "I'm ashamed of you!" After several times practicing with the tape, I gave him the command and he would paw at his nose. Soon, I was able to take the tape off his nose and give him the command again. He did it!

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog won't rub his nose without the tape! Try cuing the behavior by gently scratching her nose with your finger. That should trigger a memory and she'll obey you. You can use this hint less and less to perfect the trick.

Tip: " A good hand signal would be putting your hands on your hips!"

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog to Catch

Difficulty: Easy

 Teach Dog to Catch 

Train your dog to catch treats when you throw them. Collect bits and pieces of your dog's favorite treat, and have him sit in front of you. Throw a treat at your dog. If he doesn't catch it at first, take away the treat so he won't eat it. Eventually, your dog will get desperate for that good treat you have, and will not be able to get it unless he tries to catch it in the air. When he does catch it, praise him and give him a good petting. Now, when your dog catches the treat, say "Catch." When your dog begins catching naturally, you may introduce new objects to catch-a tennis ball is one. Have your dog sit, and - with a few feet of distance between you - lightly toss the ball into the air, and give the command. When he does, click and treat.

Step 1: Start out with a short distance and a good treat. Throw the treat to your dog. If he doesn't catch it, take the treat away and try again. If he does catch it, praise him and give him another treat!

Step 2: Keep doing this until he is catching well. Start saying "Catch" while he is catching them.

Step 3: Give him the command - "Catch!" and throw the treat. Give him lots of praise if he catches it at your command!

Step 4: Use other objects like footballs, tennis balls, or toys to give him more experience with catching. The more he practices, the better he will get!

OUR EXPERIENCE

Since fetch is Caspian's favorite game, we use it every day for exercise. For a little variety, we started sending him out before we threw the ball. Because he had learned catch, he started catching the tennis ball while it was still in the air. He often makes some very spectacular catches. Make sure that you use a very soft ball if you try this with your dog. Also, if you notice that your dog is jumping to catch food treats and toys, check with your vet to see if jumping is good for your dog. You want to make sure your dog is in good health before attempting any jumping tricks.

TEACHING TROUBLE

He's not catching anything! Some dogs are spectacular catchers - others are not. It's an instinct that all dogs have, but some breeds more than others. Just be patient - it may take a bit longer for your dog to learn this trick.

Tip: "Practice makes perfect. Don't despair if your dog doesn't catch well at first. Reward good behavior even if he tries to catch it and misses. Give him praise and encourage him to keep on trying!"

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog to Find Items

Difficulty: Moderate

Teach Dog to Find Items 

This trick can be taught with any toy or item and could turn out to be very useful if you lost something. Besides the practical usefulness of this trick, this is a really fun game to play with your dog! Have your dog go out of the room and sit, then hide the object somewhere in the next room. The object could be anything: one of his toys, an article of clothing, but make sure he knows what he's searching for. For a more advanced performance, hide something with a less noticeable scent, such as the tv remote or a set of keys.

Step 1: Have your dog sit.

Step 2: Hold up an object that he is familiar with (he knows its name) and let him smell it.

Step 3: Place the object under something obvious (like a towel), and say "find it." You might add the name of the object if it doesn't do it quickly ("find it" bunny). Click and treat when he touches the object.

Step 4: Repeat several times, but each time you repeat move the object to a different location, getting progressively more difficult. Click and treat each time.

Step 5: Let him smell and then hide other objects that he is not familiar with and give the "find it" command.

OUR EXPERIENCE

When I first taught this trick, I was using an old Atlanta Braves hat that I used to wear. Because the hat had a lot of my smell on it, it was really easy for Caspian to pick up on. It started out basically by accident, I hadn't planned on teaching him this trick. I was just playing around with the old hat, playing keep away, putting it underneath things for him to dig it out. I had him go out of the room, and I stuck it partially underneath the rug, then called him. He sniffed around a few seconds before finding it. Although I had stumbled upon this trick by accident, I got my clicker and started rewarding him for finding the hat. Because he had learned the term find it, in relation to finding things with my scent on it, when I lost a set of car keys in the backyard one day, I told Caspian to "find it." Although he didn't know what he was looking for, he went to the thing that had our scent on it. In just a few minutes, he had found my keys.

TEACHING TROUBLE

My dog doesn't understand what I want him to do. Some dogs have great noses; others don't. But your dog doesn't have to be a bloodhound to learn this trick. When starting out, make sure the toy you use to hide is one he really likes. Also make sure he knows its name. Start out easy; you may not want to even hide it starting out. Put it in plain sight and encourage your dog to touch it. After that, then you can start to hide the toy in progressively more difficult spaces.

Tip: "Use the same terms each time! In other words, don't tell your dog to "Find it," while still using "Get it," "Where is it?" and "Search" intermittently. Consistency is the key!"

Dog Trick - Teach Your Dog to Put His Toys Away

Difficulty: Hard

 Teach Dog to Put His Toys Away 

So you've finally taught your kids to put their toys away—but what about your dog? This trick is helpful, and also impressive. Give your dog a simple command and watch him go around the house and gather up all his dog toys together and drop them in a basket or box.

Step 1: Get a large box or basket. Gather all your dog's toys and put them in a pile.

Step 2: Point to each toy and say, "Take it," then "Bring it" and "Drop it" into the basket. When he does this, click and give him a treat. After he puts all his toys in the basket, reward him with a treat, saying "Put your toys away."

Step 3: Do this several more times. After several training sessions, you should be able to just say, "Put your Toys Away" and he will put them all in. Give him a big treat each time. 

Step 4: Next put each toy farther away from the basket. Work with him to find all his toys and put them away into the basket when you give the command.

OUR EXPERIENCE

It was difficult to teach Caspian to put his toys away, but since he already knew to "Take it," "Bring it" and "Drop it," that was a big help! I spread an assortment of toys across the floor with a big basket in the middle. I told him to take one of his toys, to bring it and drop it in the basket. He wouldn't drop it in the basket at first, but I would go ahead and click for the effort. Eventually I became stricter in what I was looking for, and only clicked when he actually got the toy in the basket. As soon as all his toys were in the basket he got a big treat! I would always say "put your toys away" whenever he would put any toy - or all toys - in the basket. We did several sessions of this until he was able to put them all in the basket when I gave him the command: "Caspian! Put your toys away!"

TEACHING TROUBLE

He won't put them all in! Probably the hardest thing I had to work with for Caspian was grouping all his toys together in one command. Sometimes by the time they get all their toys in, they forget what they did at the beginning. One thing you can do is start out with only three toys. When your dog puts them in, click and treat saying: "Put your toys away!" Do this several times, then add another toy. When he puts all four in, click and treat saying: "Put your toys away," and so on until he can put all his toys away!

Tip: "Sometimes you'll feel like treating him for his good efforts, but only click and treat when your dog actually drops the toy into the basket. If it's only halfway in it counts, but it doesn't count if it's not in at all."

Dog Trick : Teach Your Dog to Bring You His Dish

Difficulty: Moderate

Teach Dog to Bring Dish

Another useful trick. When your dog brings you his dish, not only does it make him look smart but it saves you the effort of having to get it. How does your dog tell you he's hungry? Pawing at his dish, knocking it over, barking? Here's a simple and cute way for your dog to let you know that he needs to be fed.

Step 1: Use the "Learn the Names of Everything" to teach him to touch his dish on command.

Step 2: Teach him to hold the dish in his mouth using the "take it" command . Your dog may not like holding a metal dish in his mouth, but this trick is worth the extra effort. Take extra time with this step. 

Step 3: With the dish on the floor say the name "dish." When he starts to touch the dish say "take it." If he takes the dish in his mouth at all click and treat.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 several times in multiple training sessions.

Step 5: With your dog holding the dish in his mouth say "bring it." Click and treat when he takes a few steps toward you with the dish.

Step 6: As you repeat step 3 introduce the command "get your dish." When he takes it, click and treat.

Step 7: Repeat step 6 in several sessions.

Step 8: Give the command "get your dish." Click and treat when he brings it to you. Gradually extend the distance from the bowl as you perfect this trick.

OUR EXPERIENCE

Teaching "Dish" wasn't too hard once I taught Caspian to learn its name. I first had him touch the dish, eventually teaching him that its name was "Dish." The next step was getting him to pick it up. This was more difficult because his dish is heavier than other objects we have trained with before. I clicked and treated for small advances towards the behavior I wanted. Eventually, he was able to carry it completely in his mouth. I then told him to "Bring it" to me. Since he knew these commands already, it wasn't very hard to string them together into this nice trick — "Get your dish."

TEACHING TROUBLE

What if my dog's dish is too heavy for him? Your dog will most likely be able to carry it. It could be that he's just not used to carrying something that bulky and heavy before. It's a good idea to start out small and click and treat for small advances toward the dish. You could even build up to this trick by having him learn to take lighter things in his mouth, then gradually teaching heavier things until he is able to hold the dish. Of course, if you have a small dog, it metal dish might be too bulky for him to pick up. You can try using a smaller dish. Another idea is to teach "Fetch a Drink" first to get him gradually used to carrying heavier things in his mouth by filling up the drink bottle a little at a time.

Tip: "After several training sessions, your dog may eventually bring his dish to you to tell you he's hungry!"