Should You Teach Your Dog Tricks

Sit! Roll over! Jump! Teaching your dog tricks might not be the easiest thing in the world, but it’s highly beneficial to you and your dog. Teaching your dog tricks can help strengthen your relationship with your beloved pet in many ways. Below are some great reasons why you should start teaching your dog tricks.

1. Make everyone safe- While learning to teach your dog tricks, you learn many training techniques which can also be used to gain control over your dog. Teaching him basic tricks like sit and stay can also be used in life situations like crossing the street or entering a store.

2. Give Your Dog Something to Do- It doesn’t take long before your dog gets bored and decides to take on a new hobby of chewing anything in sight, including your brand new sofa. Teaching your dog tricks will keep him focused on the task at hand, and will entertain him for hours!

3. Help Keep Your Dog’s Mind Sharp- Training your dog will keep his mind active and responsive. As dogs get older they become less physically active, but learning tricks will keep his mind active and alert.

4. Help Create a Better Bond between You and Your Dog- Your dog will look up to you as being the pack leader, and will listen to you instead of trying to get your attention in destructive ways. Best of all, once your dog learns tricks you two become a team when training or performing.

5. Show Off- You can show off your dog if you teach it some cool tricks, and your dog will get people’s attention. Dogs love attention and they love being in the spotlight so they will like performing in front of your friends and family. Of course, you will also get the recognition of being a star trainer.

6. Make Vet Check Ups Easier- Both the veterinarian and you hate it when your dog can’t control itself during a check up. If you teach it to be calm during the check up, it will make both of your lives easier, and you won’t be embarrassed that your dog is acting up.

7. Gives Your Dog a Hobby- We all have hobbies we like to do such as watching TV or playing games, but dogs also need things to do. Training dog tricks is great to do on rainy days when you can’t take him for a walk.

If these reasons have inspired you to teach your dog tricks, then you’ve come to the right place. Dog Trick Academy and our community is devoted to help teach your dog tricks, we keep it fun and entertaining!

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

Whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, must not have owned a dog. If dogs are anything, they are extremely intelligent and can learn many new things given the chance to show you. When training your dog, keep in mind that yelling, hitting, cursing or punishment is uncalled for, as dogs will retreat backwards the more they are yelled at. Besides, you wouldn’t treat a child like that and dogs are essentially just little children with tails and four legs!

The first thing to learn when training your dog to do anything new is to never change your verbal expression, tone or volume. If you say, “come here, boy” then do not change to “Fido, come here”. By doing this, your dog will become confused and it will cause unneeded frustration for both of you.

A couple of tips to take into consideration when training your dog is to reward him with treats for good behavior, however be sure to also give a lot of praise and patting to ensure he does not rely totally on the treats when being good. You may also think about enrolling your dog in an obedience class. Even if training is going good at home, this will give him extra practice with interaction between other animals and people.

When training your dog don’t cram everything into one day and expect him to remember it. Dogs have short attention spans and will quickly become bored, so try to keep training time down to short sessions throughout the day. Here are a few of the easier and more popular commands to teach Fido.

• Come- Use a toy or treat to encourage him to come towards you. Say “Fido, come.” As he makes his way towards you, praise him. Once he is in front of you, hold onto his collar for 30 seconds and then let go.

• Sit- Press gently down on his backside and say “sit.” You can also hold a treat above his head. When a dog is forced to look upward, he will automatically sit on his hind legs. Just as he bends to a sitting position, say “Fido, sit.” Remember to praise and reward.

• Down- Get your dog into a sitting position. Slowly guide his legs straight down in front of him until he is flat. As you are doing this, repeat “Fido, down.” Keep him in this position for 30 seconds and then praise and treat.

• Stay- Have Fido sit. As you slowly take a couple steps backward, say “Fido, stay.” Hold your hand out as you do this, palm facing him. If he moves from position, tell him “no” and return him to the starting point. If he stays, praise and treat. Don’t forget to find a ‘release command’ like “ok”, or done.” This will tell him it is okay to move.

By using persistence, consistency and patience when training your dog, you will almost effortlessly be able to teach new commands and tricks. The ‘trick’ for you is to always praise and treat. Start with these easy commands and before long you will have him doing somersaults!