Puppy Tricks

[kleintjie]

Hi,

I've taught my 3 month old cavalier puppy to sit, lie down, shake, roll and stay. What other tricks can I teach her and how do I do it? She loves training and I don't want her to get bored doing the same ones over and over.

We wanted to go to puppy school but there isn't any running atm where we live.

Thanks!

[Erny]

Targetting

Fetch

[Vickie]

I've taught my 3 month old cavalier puppy to sit, lie down, shake, roll and stay. What other tricks can I teach her and how do I do it? She loves training and I don't want her to get bored doing the same ones over and over.

WOW, that is a lot of things for a 12 week old pup.

Rather than starting new tricks, I would focus on proofing the ones you already have.

There are lots of variations on every basic trick & some such as the recall are really important to have in any situation.

eg does she do all these tricks in any environment? in the house? in the back yard? at a quiet park? with other dogs around?

will she do them if you are right in front of her? 2 steps away? 5 steps away?

will she do them on verbal command? hand signal? both? either?

How quick is her response time to each command?

Edited October 9, 2008 by Vickie

[percyk]

what about bang youre dead

that gets the kids giggling

dog has to learn to watch the pistol signal and drop down on its side quickly

our old cocker was a scream

as she got older and older shed still aim to please but it took her ages to die lol

she was like that scene from that peter sellers movie - cant remember the name- where the two bit actor steals the scene by dying so slowly and dramatically when he was really just an extra!

you can try 'speak' everytime your dog barks say 'speak' in a high pitched voice and imitate the head movement when dogs bark - kinda throw it upwards

another easy one is getting them tojump through hula hoops

you can start with it jumping over your outstretched leg or even a broomstick on the floor

get someone to lead the dog over it or entice with treat

we say ' over'

our dogs can goroundthe lounges of our house like circus performers

they jump onto the next one and lie downready forthe next signal

very impressive when we have little kids watching the circus!

dont start this one til the pup is much older cos of the joints but you can start by getting the dog to just step over things and learn the word so when its able to jump safely thenit already knows what you mean

hi 5 is easy too of course

if you teach the dog to fetch then it's fun to have them bring all sorts of stuff

my dachsie and gsd used to fetch their leads and bowls - the gsd in the end could fetch just aboutanything you pointed to

have fun!

Edited October 9, 2008 by percyk

[dooliekoolie]

There is a good web site: loveyourdog.com .It gives you a variety of tricks to teach your dog as well as how to do it and a video of the trick.

Might be worth a look for ideas

Edited October 9, 2008 by dooliekoolie

[kleintjie]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll try doing her tricks in different places now. I would love to try speak but she almost never barks! Maybe it's coming...

Thanks for the website too, it looks like fun.

[luvsdogs]

I wouldn't teach a young pup anything to do with jumping until at least 1 year old. It's not good for those little growing bones & joints.

I have taught Tilba to shake hands, both. from that I taught high 5 & now were're working on wave.

To get puppy to shake hands have her sitting in front of you. Have a food treat at her nose & gently push into her at an angle. To keep her balance she will lift the opposite paw for you to gently take. Only hold in your hand at 1st until she does it every time & then you can shake it.

From there to do high 5 put your hand out to shake, but don't take hold. Just put your hand under the paw upright like a stop signal.

You can also from there get a baby's spinning top & coax her to touch it with her paw. Then eventually press.

All these tricks come from the original shake hands & you haven't moved off the spot.