Once your pup masters the basics, it can be a lot of fun to teach your dog a few new tricks and it will also give you another way of interacting with your dog. It’s important to keep the lessons short and sweet – have lots of mini training sessions rather than long ones.
How to Sit
1. First of all, you’ll need some of your dog’s favourite treats. They will help entice your dog to listen to you. Use small treats, because if your dog can’t chew on them it could harbour aggressiveness.
2. Hold one of the treats out towards your dog so that he can smell it, but not eat it.
(Source: wikiHow)
3. While holding the treat just above his nose, say in a clear tone: “Sit”.
4. The first time you say “Sit”, you’ll have to show your dog what to do. Simply give him little nudge on his back end, towards the ground then gently push his hip area down (not his back) while pulling up on the leash.
(Source: wikiHow)
5. Reward him with a treat and say “Good boy” once he finally sits.
6. Important! Do not repeat the word “sit”. Say it only once and then enforce it. Just as with humans, nagging doesn’t work on dogs.
7. Repeat.
Lets go Down!
To get your dog lie down it’s important that you’ve taught him to sit before. If you haven’t done this, “lie down” will be an even tougher challenge.
1. Have your dog sit down.
2. Hold the treat on the floor so it’s out of the reach of his mouth, so that he’ll have to lie down to get the treat.
(Source: wikiHow)
4. Say in a clear and firm voice: “Down”, “Lie” or “Lie Down”.
5. Sometimes it’s necessary to hold the treat on the floor and then gently sweep out his front feet so he is forced to lie down.
(Source: wikiHow)
Roll over!
As this trick goes with the lie down command, it might be a challenge to get them to do this, if that exercise was hard.
1. Show the treat for you dog.
2. Have him lay down.
3. Say in a clear voice “Roll Over” and then bend down to the floor and do slow circles with the hand with the treat.
4. The first times you may need to help him roll over. The goal is to get him to respond to the words and the hand signals.
5. Repeat
(Source: wikiHow)
Time to Stay!
Word explanation: Heel position: When your dog is facing the same direction as you and their head and shoulder is lined up with your shoulder, hip and leg.
1. Tell your dog to sit and then let someone else hold the collar.
2. Stand in Heel position.
(Source: wikiHow)
3. Say “Stay” while holding your hand about 3-5 inches away from your dogs face.
4. Walk about 6 feet away and then turn around to face your dog. Start standing there for just a couple of seconds and then gradually build up.
5. Walk around your dog, starting on his left side. Go back to the heel position.
6. Reward your dog.
7. Take the lead off.
8. Repeat
Let us know how it goes!