5 Fun Tricks To Teach Your Dog At Home

Who doesn’t love teaching their dog tricks? As well as being great fun, it is a brilliant way to strengthen the bond between you, while improving obedience and behaviour. Try these five tricks to keep your dog’s mind active and impress your friends! You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, right? Well, while it is true that puppies do their most important learning within the first 16 weeks of life, there are loads of tricks you can teach your dog throughout their life. Most build on the foundation commands (such as sit and stay) and with short, positive and engaging sessions you can make fantastic progress.

Before you start, remember:

• Teaching tricks is meant to be fun. Don’t tell your dog off if they are struggling and don’t put undue pressure on yourself or your dog
• Keep sessions repetitive and short
• Don’t forget the treats!

1. Kiss

   Difficulty level: easy Especially good for: a firm favourite with children

• Pop a little peanut butter (or similar favourite treat) on where you would like your dog to kiss you. This could be your cheek, mouth, or, if you don’t like the thought of being kissed on the face, your hand
• Use the command ‘kiss’, lean close to your dog and let them lick away!
• Some dogs can get rather excited with this one, especially if they are kissing you on the face, so be sure to teach them to know when you’ve had enough. Do this by using the ‘enough’ command. Wait until they stop licking, praise them and give them a treat. This should ensure plenty of well-mannered kisses!
• After one or two sessions, your dog should pick this up easily

2. Where is it?

   Difficulty level: easy Especially good for: mentally stimulating your dog

• Take some small pieces of food/training treats and, with a closed hand, encourage your dog to sniff the treats. Tell your dog to sit and stay and then walk out of sight and hide the treats in areas you are happy for your dog to explore. Top tip: if your dog is yet to master sit and stay, get someone else to hold them for you
• When you have hidden all the pieces go back to your dog and say ‘where is it?’ Be animated and have lots of energy in your voice to ensure your dog is excited and ready to play
• As your dog explores, keep repeating the ‘where is it?’ command. Say it more as they get closer to the treats and less as they move away
• When they have found all the treats make a big fuss of them and use a command such as ‘finished’ or ‘all gone’ to let them know the game is over In time you can make the treats harder to find or try hiding something different

3. Speak and shush

   Difficulty level: moderate Especially good for: improving behaviour As well as being fun, this is a really useful trick to teach. There are times when you may want your dog to bark on command; conversely, excessive barking is a real problem for some dogs so as an owner it is important to control it. Start off by teaching the ‘shush’ command:

• Create a situation that will cause your dog to bark, such as by ringing the front door bell
• When your dog barks, acknowledge the behaviour by checking for the source (look out the window or door). Then, go back to your dog and get their attention
• After the barking stops, praise your dog and give them a treat
• Repeat the above and gradually wait for longer periods of silence each time before rewarding with the treat
• Once your dog has remained quiet a few times, add your cue word – this could be ‘quiet’, ‘shush’ or ‘enough’. While your dog is barking, say your cue word in a firm way while showing the treat. Give it as soon as the barking stops
• Repeat the ‘shush’ command several times until your dog seems to understand

Next, move on to the ‘speak’ command:

• Create a situation that will cause your dog to bark
• When your dog barks, introduce a cue word, for example ‘speak’. Say it in a bright and engaging way. When your dog barks, praise your dog and give them a treat
• Repeat the ‘speak’ command several times until your dog seems to understand
• Once your dog learns both commands separately, you can use them together by asking your dog to speak a few times, then switching to ask them to be quiet

4. High-five

   Difficulty level: easy Especially good for: impressing people An impressive trick to showcase, but an easy one to learn as much of the behaviour builds on the ‘paw’ command.

• Take a training treat in your hand and ask your dog to sit. Show them the treat to get them engaged
• Close your palm over the treat with your hand placed vertically in front of your dog
• At this stage your dog should push your hand with their nose or lick it. Wait until they paw your hand and give the ‘high-five’ command as you reward with the treat
• Repeat this a few times raising your hand higher until your dog seems to understand. When they do, start rewarding them with treats from your other hand
• Within time you will be able to get your dog to high-five without the need for treats

5. Take a bow

   Difficulty level: moderate to advanced Especially good for: bringing it all together Although this is a more advanced trick, it actually replicates a natural behaviour – the play bow – so is very much within your dog’s range of movement:

• Begin with your dog standing on all fours
• Hold a treat at the end of your dog’s nose and slowly move it toward the floor to lure your dog down until its elbows are on the floor with its hindquarters remaining up
• Some dogs need help keeping their bottoms up, so simply place your hand under their tummy to keep their hindquarters up
• Hold your dog in the bow for a few seconds and then use the treat to move them back into a standing position. Instantly reward with the treat and repeat several times
• Once your dog seems to understand the action, add the cue word “bow” before repeating the above steps