Raising a dog is a profoundly fulfilling experience as it allows a person to enjoy the companionship of a pet and train the canine along the way. Dogs are supremely intelligent beings, capable of learning behaviors quickly, which is an attribute primarily associated with said four-legged animals.
Cats and most other quadruped pets lack the brilliance that dogs possess. That’s not to say that other pet four-legged animals are absolutely dense; they are not as sharp as the oh-so-adorable pooches. Hence, bringing up a fluffy pup offers a much more rewarding experience than any other pet.
The satisfaction a paw-parent feels when their canine-child acts on command are unmatched. If you wish to taste the same unbridled joy, then you should teach your pup these unbelievably easy tricks. But let us warn you, coaching your furry fellow will take some time and quite a lot of patience.
Kiss
Yes, we get that your canine-companion already showers you in endless kisses, but do they kiss you on command? For most people, the answer to that question is a resounding no, and that’s okay. Dogs are intelligent, alright, but they need some guidance to use all their brain matter effectively. That’s where teaching comes in. If you want to teach your dog to kiss you whenever you want, here’s what you need to do.
Get a pack of treats, a post-it or piece of tape, and a clicker. Now paste the tape or post-it on your palm and display it in front of your dog. Eventually, your little one will move forward to touch your hand with their mouth. When their mouth comes in contact with your hand, press the clicker to mark the behavior, and feed a treat to your canine.
Repeat the same method multiple times until your dog learns to kiss the post-it/tape every single time. Once that happens, you can place the sticky note on your cheek and ask your doggie for a kiss. Press the clicker when you get one!
Continue with the mentioned teaching method, and soon your dog will be kissing you whenever you want!
Play Dead
Getting a dog to play dead is a little tricky but devilishly amusing, especially if someone unfamiliar with your fur child falls prey to the trick. To train your canine companion to play dead, use the back-chain method, in which we move backward when teaching a behavior. That is, we start from the last bit of the action first, then move toward the first part-this way, a dog remembers the first step distinctively.
To begin training, flaunt a treat in front of your fur child and get them to lie down on their tummy. Once they are on the floor, move your hand holding the treat over their face, rolling them in the process. Doing so will get your canine companion’s side on the ground. At this point, treat them after buzzing the clicker. Repeat the technique several times until you can eliminate the treats but still trick your dog into lying back. Once you have reached this point in your training, repeat the treat-less hand movement multiple times, then replace it with a verbal command.
As you can probably imagine by now, teaching a dog to play dead is not going to be easy or quick. But once you are done, you’ll have unimaginable fun tricking others.
Shake a Hand
You must have seen many dogs shaking their paws with people. You can get your dog to do that too. All you need to do is show a palm-full of treats to your canine child only to shut it into a fist when they move forward to pick one. Upon encountering a closed fist, most dogs paw at hand in front of them. Naturally, your bud will do the same, and when they do, press the clicker and reward them.
Repeat the said technique a few times in a row to reinforce the behavior. After your fur child has fully learned to put its paw forward when a fist is presented, get rid of the treats and continue the process for several more tries until your pet is all set to shake hands with everyone.
Play Fetch
Fetch is a classic dog game, but playing it may not come naturally to every canine on the planet. If your dog is also not a fetch player yet, you can teach them to be one.
First, get a toy that your canine bud absolutely loves and tease them with it. Please give it to them, throw it toward them to get them keyed up. After the toy has your fur child’s full attention, throw it at a distance for them to fetch. But be sure to choose a relatively less-crowded place to teach your little one to play the game; otherwise, they might get distracted by other things in the vicinity.
Bark on Command
Dogs can bark a lot or not at all of their own accords, but what’s the fun in that? Teach your canine companion to bark on cue to elicit claps and wows from all directions. To do that, entice them with a treat, wave it in front of their face but don’t let them have it until they make a sound, which they will!
When dogs have trouble understanding what their owner means, they bark. By teasing your best pal, you’ll throw them off, forcing them to speak up. When they do that, click on the clicker and feed them. You can also use verbal remarks such as yes! Good doggie, in place of the clicker.
Roll-over
Training dogs to roll over is pretty similar to teaching them to play dead. The only difference between the two techniques is that when coaching a canine companion to roll over, you want them to get up instead of continuing to lie on their side once they have gone full circle.
To do that, you will not feed them the treat directly but put it on the other side of the floor, prompting them to get up and retrieve the piece. Don’t forget to buzz the clicker every time they pick up the treat!
Point to Ponder
Teaching a behavior to any living being is a time-consuming process. Parents often come close to pull their hair out when teaching their kids manners and social etiquette. So you can imagine training a dog will not be a cakewalk. But the key is to stay persistent and optimistic when teaching tricks to a dog to see results.
