Invigorate the Bond With Your Dog Through Tricks Training
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 attributes that need to be taken advantage of when it comes time to teach them tricks. It makes sense to incorporate their natural tendencies. By building on these natural 'dog' attributes and behaviors in conjunction with rewards to generate pet tricks, the process becomes easier than trying to teach a trick from scratch.
Check out what your dog does for his own enjoyment. Does he jump into the air pursuing butterflies? Does he like to turn in circles chasing his tail? If some kind of impromptu behavior can be cultivated into a clever trick, that will streamline the training process. Be in readiness to use a consistent hand sign and vocal command when this behavior is displayed and then follow with an immediate reward.
Some dogs have weight or diet concerns so don't over do it with the food treats. Providing treats may be a reasonable way to get started and to stimulate your dog's attention and focus but after a while you want your dog reacting and performing cool dog tricks as a result of vocal directives, hand cues, and praise for a well done trick. Once the appropriate signal-command/reaction-trick interrelations are rooted and automatic the use of treats can be decreased or altogether discontinued.
A great many dogs catch on readily after a few repeats and a verbal praise or snack reward. This usually makes teaching the "stay", "come", "sit" and other basic commands quite easy. When you want to train for something a little more complex it can be as simple as capitalizing on these basic commands and behaviors. As an example, the "down" command can be the starting place for teaching "play dead".
Another way to get your dog's undivided attention when developing some tricks is to utilize a favorite plaything. Using a chew toy or a ball your dog likes to play with, just out of his reach, rapidly move it up and down motivating him to jump at the same time giving him the "jump" vocal command. After repeating until he associates the command and hand sign with the action of jumping, dispose of the toy and utilize just your hand and the vocal command.
Exploit your dog's acute sense of smell... his faculty to distinguish smells close by and at long distance is fascinating. This incredible faculty can be utilized in teaching various types of "hide-and-seek" tricks and games. Again, using a favorite play toy or chew ball, conceal it under a box or other object. Start-off close by and bit by bit stretch out the distance or raise the difficulty in stages, for instance positioning the box in a different room or up on a chair.
Do you want your dog to "high five" you? The best way to train for this easy dog trick is to utilize your dog's affection for you as his owner and possibly his automatic behavior of presenting you his paw. You can reinforce this by getting down on your knees in front of your dog, presenting your "paw" and giving the command "high five","five","give me five", "shake", or whatever command you decide to adopt. When he performs correctly, reward him with praise or a food snack. He will rapidly figure it out.
Sometimes the dog will offer you his paw right off the bat. With some dogs you will help them figure it out by raising their paw whilst using the vocal command. Bear in mind the need to praise even if you have to lift his paw into position, then put the paw back down and do it again.
When a trick has been learned it's easy to expand it. "Give me five" can without difficulty be expanded into "sit up" by continuing to lift the paw so that the other foot will naturally lift up. By then holding both paws so that the dog is in a "sit up" position, vocalizing the command and reinforcing with praise or a treat, he will, with repetition, draw the association.
Needless to say there are many different types of training. Much of it is for behavior control, safety, correct social behavior, etc. Working on tricks is for you and your dog's entertainment, exercise, and to help enhance the bond between you.