An Intro to Training Dog Tricks

Training a dog to do tricks can be an excellent way for dog owners to spend time with their dog, and at the same time building a high quality relationship with him. Training a do to do tricks is very simple once you understand the basic ideas of dog training. In this article, I'll talk about them in details in hope to help others who may be looking for this data.

1. Dogs learn in the moment.

Humans ponder and reflect on previous experiences to do things better and better. Sadly dogs don't learn this way; they learn everything in the moment. This suggests that if you are going to reward or punish a dog for anything, it must be while he does it.

Let's take training a dog to roll over as an example. You can wish and hope that your dog thinks about rolling over for days, but your dog isn't intending to do it unless there is something in it for him. The way to teach a dog to roll over is by giving him something that he likes straight after rolling over. So if you were to give your dog a treat each time he roll over, he will be able to quickly learn that rolling over is what earns him the treats!

2. Dogs are motivated by 3 things.

As much as your dog loves you, he will be able to only do things for three different things, praise, food or toys. Praising your dog can be physically touching and petting your dog with great vocal encouragement on your side. I do not believe that I have to tell you about treats, but most dogs are highly inspired by food and treats due to highly survival instincts. Some dogs also love toys very much! Some breeds are more active than others so a tug toy or a squeaky toy can be rewarding for some dogs.

Which one of those 3 motivators is the most powerful with your dog? Usually dogs will value one of every one of the 3 motivators more than the other two. There is nothing screwed up with your dog valuing one over the others; it just means that this is what you need to use to train your dog to do tricks.

3. Tricks are limitless.

The one secret about tricks is that there are endless quantities of tricks you can train. There is always a harder and more thrilling trick to coach your dog. When you're just starting out training your dog to offer you a high 5 is a great learning experience and can be quite challenging! But when you have mastered these tricks, you can move on to much more complex tricks like jumping over hurdles, saying requests or even jumping rope. Training a dog new tricks can be an enjoyable time for trainers.

Jean Cote is a Professional Dog Tutor who enjoys training his
dog tricks and also to push the benefits of daily coaching on his dog blog. An Intro to Training Dog Tricks