Trick training is a fun way to spend quality time with your dog and can help to build or reinforce the fun and playful relationship you have with your dog. Tricks are an excellent activity for dogs of all breeds and sizes. Teaching tricks can even help to keep your dog physically and mentally engaged and enriched. If you’re looking to teach your dog some new tricks, these 10 skills are a fun place to start. These tricks can all be taught in your home and don’t require complicated props. All you need is time, patience, and a lot of small treats your dog is excited about.
Sit
This classic trick is an excellent skill for every dog to have. To teach your dog to sit, take a treat and get your dog’s attention. When your dog is focused on the treat, slowly bring the treat up just slightly over your dog’s head and back. As your dog’s nose follows the treat up, the bottom will go down. When your dog’s body goes into the sit position, praise your dog, and give them the treat. Repeat this over several practice sessions and start to introduce your verbal cue of choice, like “sit.” When your dog is consistently going into the sit position with a treat, you can just use the verbal cue and give your dog a treat once they sit.
High five
To teach your dog to give a high five on cue, take a treat in one of your hands and close your fist around the treat. Hold the treat out to your dog and let your dog start exploring. Ignore as your dog might start to sniff at your fist. Eventually, your dog will paw at your hand to get the treat, and when your dog’s paw connects with your hand, praise and give your dog the treat inside.
Repeat, and when your dog is constantly pawing at your hand to get the treat, introduce a cue word such as “high five.” After several practice sessions, offer a closed fist to your dog without a treat inside and ask your dog to give a high five. When your dog paws at your empty hand on cue, praise and give your dog a treat; continue to repeat and start to hold out an open hand to your dog. Then, praise and treat when your dog offers the high-five behavior.
Wave
Once your dog knows the high five cue, you can also teach your dog to wave. Hold your hand up like you are going to ask for a high five, but instead of having your hand in a position where your dog can reach you, hold your hand a little higher. When your dog reaches their paw up towards your hand, praise and give your dog a treat. After a few repetitions, your dog will make the connection that the behavior you want is them pawing at the air. At this point, you can add in the verbal cue of your choice, like “wave,” in addition to the hand signal.
Down
This classic behavior is a helpful trick that is relatively easy to teach to most dogs. Start with your dog either in a standing or sitting position. Then, get your dog’s attention with a treat in your hand. When your dog is focused on the treat, bring the treat down and slightly forward. As your dog’s nose follows the treat, their body will move into the down position. When your dog’s body touches the floor, praise and treat your dog. The more you practice, the better your dog will get at following the lure into a down position. When your dog is consistently following the lure, you can add in your verbal cue of “down” and start to practice without a food lure.
Paws up
For this trick, your dog will put their front paws onto a table object of your choice. Start with a chair, pillow, or another object you have around the house. Get your dog’s attention with a treat and lure their nose up above the object. As your dog’s nose follows the treat, their front paws will pop onto the object. When your dog has both paws on the object, praise and treat your dog, and repeat over several training sessions. As your dog gains confidence with putting their front paws onto things, you can begin to introduce a verbal cue of choice like “paws up” or “on,” fade out the need for the lure, and instead give the cue and praise and reward your dog for putting their paws up when asked.
Speak
Do something you know that is likely to cause your dog to bark, like ringing the doorbell or playing a funny noise on your phone. When your dog barks, mark the behavior with praise and treats. Repeat playing the sound and then rewarding your dog for responding. Next, use a verbal cue like “talk” or “speak” before you make the sound that will elicit the bark. Then, praise and reward your dog for barking. After a few repetitions, you’ll be able to fade out the sound that triggers the barking, and your dog will understand that your dog will bark in response to the verbal cue.
Spin
To teach your dog to spin, take a treat and lure your dog into a wide and smooth circle. When your dog completes the circle, praise and treat, repeat this behavior, spinning your dog to the left and to the right. After a few repetitions with this behavior, you’ll be able to start fading out the treat lure, and instead, just use the motion of your hand going in a circle as a visual cue for your dog to spin after your dog performs the spin behavior, praise, and treat.
Sit pretty
To teach your dog to sit pretty when your dog is in a sit position, get their attention with a treat and bring it up just slightly above your dog’s head. As you lure your dog’s head up, your front feet will leave the ground, and your dog will go into a sit pretty or beg position. When your dog’s front legs are off the ground, praise and reward. As you repeat, you’ll be able to increase the amount of time slowly your dog stays in the begging position. Keep your training sessions short with this trick, as it requires your dog to build new core muscle strength.
Kiss
This is an easy trick to teach via a technique called capturing. Anytime your dog licks, you say “kiss” or another cue of choice, praise and treat. Because rewarded behavior gets repeated, your dog will begin to offer the behavior more, and start associating to the verbal cue. Soon you’ll be able to say “kiss” and have your dog offer you a lick in return, just don’t forget to praise and treat when your dog offers you a slobbery kiss!
