How I Trained My Dog: Tricks

Let me tell you about my journey training Charlie. It wasn't easy, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I learned a lot.

Tricks are both enjoyable and extremely useful.

While they are fun to show off, these tricks can also be useful for teaching your dog the basic obedience skills they need.

Watching Charlie go through this was heartbreaking.

have your pup sit and lie down, and then, keeping a treat extremely close to your pup’s body, instruct them to “rollover.” then, move the lure backward along one side of the muzzle to the top of their neck and over the shoulders.

Another variation of rollover is “Playing dead.” While this is a fun trick to perform, it’s also a great way of getting your dog into a more relaxed position for rest.

It’s also helpful if you need to examine their feet.

Have your pup sit and stay, and raise the treat a head’s length above your dog’s nose, so that they lift their front paws off the ground.

If your pup jumps up, lower the lure and move it backward a tad.

Watching Charlie go through this was heartbreaking.

with your dog standing beside you, sandwiched between yourself and a wall, move a treat under your pup’s chin and toward their chest.

Start with your pup lying down, and inch a treat along the ground a little way in front of their nose.

If your pup stands up, have them lie down and try again.

Instruct your pup to stand, and move the treat down to the ground to come to rest a few inches in front of your pup’s front paws.

This will encourage your dog to drop their forequarters until their elbows touch the ground..

While you may not think of this as one of the top dog training tricks, “Turn around” can be a great way to get your dog to learn to pay attention to you.

Have your dog stand facing you and move the treat in a horizontal circle over your pup’s head, so that your dog moves to follow the circle.

I felt so guilty when I realized what was happening.

fetch is a great way to exercise your dog’s mind and body.

Request your pup to “Go to your mat,” show your dog a treat, and then run and put it on the pup’s mat.

When your pup reaches the mat, the treat is their reward.

You can also use this to train your dog to go to other locations, such as a gated-off room or their crate.

Following the same methods, start by tossing the treat until your dog is comfortable going in and out.

I learned this the hard way, but at least Charlie is okay now.

when two people are training at the same time, it is possible to do yo-yo recalls back and forth.

“Go to people” commands can be practiced with different people spread out in different rooms of the house or on walks outdoors.

It is one of the quickest ways to exercise a dog to exhaustion with minimal expenditure of energy on behalf of the pet parents..

These tricks are a great way to bond and work towards positive behaviors.

If you’re looking for more dog training tricks to teach, check out 10 fun, impressive tricks you can teach any dog.

I'm sharing this because I wish someone had told me earlier. Hopefully this helps someone else avoid the same mistakes I made with Charlie.