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For the most part dogs are energetic to do what their owners want and try their best to please when it comes to getting a reward for doing so. These are dog peculiarities that need to be exploited when it comes time to teach them tricks. It makes sense to take advantage of their natural tendencies. By building on these natural ‘dog’ tendencies and behaviors in combination with rewards to generate pet tricks, the procedure becomes easier than trying to teach a trick from scratch.

Watch what your dog does for his own amusement. Does he leap into the air chasing butterflies? Does he like to lay on his back with his feet in the air? If some kind of spontaneous behavior can be turned into an enjoyable trick, that will shorten the training process. Be ready to use a suitable hand signal and vocal command when this behavior is demonstrated and then carry through with an instantaneous reward.

For most dogs there are dietary requirements that you’ll need to pay mind to, and bearing that in mind you shouldn’t actually give your dog an excessive amount of treats. Treats are a great way to get started, but later on the hand signals and some praise will suffice. When you get everything down pat, you can decrease the amount of treats or stop giving them period.

Quite a few dogs learn readily after a few repeats and a voice praise or food reward. This usually makes teaching the “stay”, “come”, “sit” and other elementary commands quite uncomplicated. When you want to teach something a little more difficult it can be as simple as capitalizing on these basic commands and behaviors. As an example, the “down” command can be the jump off point for teaching “play dead”.

An alternative way to get your dog’s attention when working on some tricks is to utilize a favorite play toy. Using a chew toy or a ball your dog likes to play with, just out of his reach, quickly move it up and down encouraging him to jump while giving him the “jump” voice command. After repeating until he relates the command and hand signal with the act of jumping, eliminate the toy and use just your hand and the verbal command.

You should take advantage of the dog’s ability to smell, as well as his ability to smell better when he is close, as well as at long range. These abilities are actually quite amazing, and it can be used for different types of games including hide and seek. Hiding a favorite chew toy under a box is a great way to practice as he or she will find that toy right away. You can begin by hiding the toy close by and you can gradually move it farther so that it will be more difficult but doable.

What about giving you five? That’s a great trick for a dog, and it’s actually pretty easy. Most dogs have a tendency to give you their paw immediately, and you can show them your hand or “paw”, and then say ‘high five’ as they give you theirs. After a while this will become second nature to them, but at first you will need to reinforce this behavior using a treat.

Sometimes you may find that the dog doesn’t lift its pay when you want it to, in which case you’ll have to resort to other measures. You’ll have to physically lift their paw, but make sure you praise them and give them a treat. After a while they’ll do it immediately without you lifting the paw as long as they know there is a treat for them.

After a trick has been trained it’s not difficult to expand it. “Give me five” can easily be expanded into “sit up” by slowly elevating the paw so that the other one will automatically lift up. By then grasping both paws so that the dog is in a “sit up” position, vocalizing the command and supporting the proper reaction with praise or a treat, he will, with repetition, connect the dots.

Without a doubt there are many different types of training. A great deal of it is for behavior manipulation, safety, proper house manners, and so forth. Training tricks is for you and your dog’s amusement, exercise, and to help invigorate the bond between you.

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