For the most part dogs are enthusiastic to do what their owners want and try their best to please when it comes to receiving a reward for doing so. These are dog tendencies that need to be used when it comes time to teach them tricks. It makes sense to use their natural predilections. By building on these natural ‘dog’ tendencies and behaviors in association with rewards to develop pet tricks, the procedure becomes easier than trying to teach a trick from square one.

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.

Numerous dogs have weight or diet considerations so don’t over do it with the food treats. Utilizing treats may be an acceptable way to get started and to stimulate your dog’s attention and focus but after a while you want your dog reacting and performing tricks as a result of voice instructions, hand signs, and praise for a correct response. Once the proper signal-command/reaction-trick interrelations are ingrained and automatic the use of treats can be minimized or altogether terminated.

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.

Take advantage of your dog’s acute sense of smell… his ability to detect smells close up and at long range is astonishing. This incredible ability can be used in training many types of “hide-and-seek” tricks and games. Again, using a favorite chew toy or chew ball, conceal it under a box or other object. Start-off close up and gradually lengthen the distance or raise the difficulty in stages, for instance positioning the box in another room or up on a counter.

What about giving you five? That’s a great trick for a dog, and it’s actually pretty easy. Most dogs have a tendency to give you their paw immediately, and you can show them your hand or “paw”, and then say ‘high five’ as they give you theirs. After a while this will become second nature to them, but at first you will need to reinforce this behavior using a treat.

The dog will usually have no hesitation to hand you their paw, and because of this you will sometimes be able to do the trick without saying anything. Sometimes you might actually have to lift their paw up for them, and even if this is the case then you’ll still need to give the dog some praise so that they’ll be willing to do it on their own next time.

After a trick has been learned it’s not difficult to extend it. “Give me five” can smoothly be extended into “sit up” by slowly raising the paw so that the other one will naturally raise up. By then haging on to both feet so that the dog is in a “sit up” position, vocalizing the command and supporting the proper reaction with praise or a treat, he will, with repetition, make the connection.

Without a doubt there are many different types of training. A lot of it is for behavior modification, safety, appropriate social behavior, and so forth. Working on tricks is for you and your dog’s pleasure, recreation, and to help fortify the bond between you.

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Dogs do not come in the naturally stubborn category. However, it takes them some time to understand what needs to be done. That is why it is necessary that the owner manages to establish his status of “alpha wolf”, really quickly. To make sure that the dog understands the necessary behavior and commands, you need to be patient, and firm. This challenge is going to include the training of the important “come” command.

A dog is going to explore his environment by sniffing, digging, moving things and taking things away from one place to another. That is why one has to make sure that he does not get distracted with other objects during a training session. Other people and voices are also going to distract him so you need to do your training session in a quiet and clear backyard.

The moment the dog comes spontaneously towards you, act quickly, and reinforce the command with a hand gesture. If he moves towards you, spontaneously, reinforce “Come” with the hand movement. Make sure that the gesture and/or the word is unique and not one which is used during regular training sessions.

To begin, face the dog and place it in the sit position. Execute the “stay” command as you move back a couple of steps. Use the voice and hand gesture command. Give the dog bountiful praise for appropriate behavior, but don’t give praise for uncompleted or incorrect action.

Repeat this as you continue moving back several more steps. If the dog runs to you before he should, vocalize the “sit-stay” command and try it again. If the dog doesn’t want to come at all you may have to use a toy or a snack to prompt him a little bit.

Some dogs may be reluctant or slow to learn. This is where you might need to do some leash training. The dog should be put in the sit position with the reinforcement of the ‘stay’ command. Start backing up, while letting the leash go loose and slack. A firm tug is needed upon the leash along with the appropriate voice and hand gestures, if the dog does not move.

If the dog is too eager to come to you, use either a long leash or a rope which should be wrapped around a tree or fence rail. If the dog tries to move, the leash should be tugged as you say ‘stay’. This training can be done with the help of another person, but the dog is going to get confused about whom to obey. That is why it is sensible to have the dog’s focus on just one trainer.

Consistence as well as patience is necessary during training sessions. Human induced commands like sit, stay and come are not naturally understood by dogs. Yelling at the dog when it makes errors or does not obey your orders is quite a counterproductive exercise. You have to establish your alpha status by your body posture, a firm voice, and your patience while you wait for it to obey you. Physical leading and restraint is not such a helpful technique.

Many dog breeds are quite willing to be trained, and respond very positively to quick praise, for proper and correct behavior. If necessary, you have to show that you are the stubborn one waiting for them to ‘come’, instead of your going to them.

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