Are You Interested in Starting Some Dog Tricks Training?
November 18th, 2009
dog tricks training
Are You Interested in Starting Some Dog Tricks Training?
Now unless you are planning on packing your dog up and heading for the circus, I’m assuming here that you are interested in learning how to teach your dog a few basic tricks to keep your dog happy and, engaged in something other than destructive puppy behavior. Then you are probably interested in dog tricks training as a fun activity, and a new way of spending some quality time with your dog.
Always remember, dogs may or may not want to do the trick you are determined to teach him. Why not take your lead from your dog and learn one from him. It is never a good idea to force your dog to do tricks that he doesn’t want to do. After all, the point of teaching your dog some tricks shouldn’t be about impressing anyone. It’s all about having fun and keeping you dog’s mind active. A dog’s refusal to perform a specific trick, may be an indication of a physical problem or it may be something else. Move on and try something different and don’t forget to take your dog to the veterinarians for a check-up to rule out any serious problems.
When you both decide on a trick, than focus on that one trick every day until he has mastered it. As in all things related to training your dog, consistency is the key. Your dog doesn’t have a very long attention span so about 15 minutes at a time, every day should do it. If your dog is really motivated, you might try teaching him a second trick but make that a totally separate training session. So you could teach one trick in the morning and than a different trick in the evening.
Besides consistency, you will probably need a lot of patience when working on your dog tricks training. For some dogs, learning tricks may be hard. These dogs may seem to take a long time to learn one trick. That’s normal. Continue to take the training slow, using little steps. Praise your dog profusely with every accomplishment. Dogs enjoy pleasing their human companions. A little praise from you will encourage your dog to move forward with their training until they have mastered the trick.
Forget about Lassie the wonder collie. Dogs are not machines and they don’t all have the same capabilities. For each trick you may have seen a professionally trained performing dog like Lassie do, many, many hours of training were involved.
Once your dog has mastered a trick, be ready to introduce a new trick. If possible build on the skills the dog has already learned. Just like people, dogs get bored so know when to stop having your dog repeat the same old trick over and over again. For your dog tricks training to be fun for your dog, offer them some variety and some new challenges. Maybe you might want to add some agility training activities. The time you spend with your dog will only serve to strengthen the bond and improve the communications you share with your four legged friend.
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