Which tricks can your dog do? Trick training can improve your dog’s life, increase their confidence, physical fitness, and connection to you. Trick dog is even a popular sport where your dog can earn titles for showing off what they know.
Increase Bonding
Dogs thrive when given opportunities to spend quality time with their human. In addition to spending time playing and cuddling, consider adding trick training into your dog’s regular schedule. Trick training can help you and your dog become closer than ever. Teaching your dog new trick skills can give both you and your dog a sense of accomplishment and is a fun way to structure play with your dog. By teaching tricks you’re investing in the relationship you have with your dog, and can improve your bond.
Physical Conditioning
Trick training can be physically beneficial for your dog by helping to increase your dog’s flexibility, muscle tone, and overall physical condition. Dogs are practicing precise behaviors and building muscle and muscle-awareness. Increasing your dog’s physical fitness through trick training can improve their health, and reduce the likelihood of injury. This increase in body awareness and strength is beneficial if you have plans to pursue other sports with your dog, and can help them to age more gracefully. Trick training is something that dogs of all sizes, breeds, and ages have fun with. Find tricks fit for your dog. Before starting to teach higher impact and rigorous tricks, consult with your dog’s veterinarian to see if there are any considerations or limitations you should keep in mind with trick training.
Mental Enrichment
Dogs thrive with opportunities to learn new skills and train with their people. Don’t worry if you can’t get your dog out for a long walk every day, trick training can help meet your dog’s physical and mental enrichment needs at home. Even in small spaces, you can teach your dog tricks which will provide mental challenges and stimulation for your dog. If you feel like your dog is getting bored, just practice some of your dog’s favorite skills, or pull out some treats, UnKibble, or toys and teach your dog something new. One of the benefits of trick training is you don’t need a lot of space to practice tricks. In fact, some detail-oriented tricks like teaching your dog to identify toys/objects by name need very little space but provide tremendous mental stimulation for our dogs.
Making Trick Training Fun
One of the benefits of trick training is quite simply, that it’s a lot of fun. Sometimes especially for dog guardians who are focused on working through behavioral challenges, training can get monotonous. This can lead to people being less likely to spend time training their dogs and make dogs less interested and focused during training sessions. Instead of just drilling obedience skills with your dog, consider adding in trick training. Because tricks are exciting and high energy. Working on trick cues with your dog can lighten the mood of all your training sessions. When you’re having more fun, your dog is going to enjoy training more. When dogs are having fun they are going to learn all skills better and faster. Adding tricks into your training routine can help improve your dog’s focus and accuracy in all areas of training.
Trick Training Builds Confidence
When dogs are successful in a training session their confidence soars. For this reason, trick training can be especially valuable for nervous, shy, and insecure dogs. Teaching your dog tricks increases your dog’s understanding of learning, which can improve your dog’s confidence. Dogs who are more confident are less likely to respond fearfully or reactively in new situations. Increased confidence can help your dog be more comfortable going to new places, and make them a more engaged learner. You can also utilize tricks in places where your dog is less sure to help them build confidence. For example, if your dog is nervous at the vet, practicing trick cues your dog knows and likes can shift your dog’s mood about being at a veterinary appointment and make them more cooperative.
Competitive Sport:
Not only is trick training a great way to spend quality time with your dog, but it’s also a competitive sport. The trick dog sport has gained popularity in recent years because it is fun and accessible. Titles can be earned by purebred and mixed breed dogs either at in-person tests, or through video performances sent to certified evaluators the Do More with Your Dog organization or the American Kennel Club to review. Trick dog is especially popular because of the video component which allows for participation regardless of where you live, and makes the sport ideal for dogs or people who would struggle in a traditional hectic dog show environment. Trick training is a fun sport for dogs and people, and a fantastic introduction to getting involved in dog sports.
