Teaching Puppy Tricks
Tips on Successful Puppy Teaching
Teaching your puppy all kinds of things from tricks to beg a certain way can be good fun, but there is a method to do it. Different dogs can learn different things. Though begging may not necessarily be a desired behavior to some people, whereas other people think begging can be cute; there are ways you can teach your puppy to either beg in a cute way or not to beg at all. Many people find it cute to see a small dog, such as a shitzu or a toy poodle stands on his hind legs with its front paws hanging down. Other people like it when big dogs give a handshake with their paws or do other tricks. Whatever trick you want your dog to do, you can teach him easily through rewarding him with a treat upon performing the desired trick.
A. The paw shake trick is one of the most common tricks people like to teach their puppies. The typical command for getting a dog to shake his paw with your hand is done with the command “SHAKE!” Teaching a puppy to shake is done by first getting him to sit and then gently lift one of his front paws and tell him “SHAKE!” Using the verbal command should also be done simultaneously with a hand gesture. The typical hand gesture in getting the dog to shake is by tapping the floor with your hand in front of the dog’s front paw. Encourage your puppy to lift up one of his front paws to get to shake. As you repeat the verbal command “SHAKE” and do the hand gesture, and every time your puppy complies, give him a treat. It’s that simple.
B. Teaching your puppy to sit is another important command that many people teach their puppies. You need to remember that puppies are highly energetic and can be rambunctious, therefore you need to get him to simmer down in certain situations. What better way than teaching your puppy to sit. Like teaching your puppy to shake, teaching your puppy to sit on command can be done with a simple verbal command, “SIT,” and the simultaneous hand gesture. Typically, the hand gesture for the “SIT” command should be either your hand or finger first pointing to your puppy and moving downward. The first few times, get the dog to recognize the verbal command with the hand sign by gently making him sit by pushing his hind end down to sit. As soon as the dog sits on command by himself, give him a treat to reward him every time he obeys your command.
C. Begging can be cute or can be annoying, depending on the person. Eventually dogs will be near the table and will begin to beg for food. Some people who come and visit might not like it if your dog begging by putting his chin or paw on your guest’s leg. Other dogs can beg vocally by lying under the table and moan or bark or both. This kind of begging is obviously undesirable and should be curbed, however, small dogs might beg in a cute manner by standing on its hind legs. However you put it, you can either encourage your dog to beg or not to beg.
1. Teaching your puppy not to beg can also be done very easily. First, why does your puppy beg? Simple. It wants what’s on the table and will do something to get what it wants. If you give your dog a scrap from the table every time it does some kind of begging, it will continue. If your puppy knows that every time it moans or barks it gets some table scraps, it will continue this behavior because it has the desired affect. It it’s ignored, it knows that it will not get anything and will stop. If your puppy gets very obnoxious when begging, tell him firmly “NO!” Or you can say “BAD!” You need to be firm and you need to do this repetitively. Sometimes, take your puppy away from the dining table when he begs and tell him “NO!” Lock your puppy in its room for some time and then let him back out.
2. Teaching your puppy to beg is not difficult. If you want your dog to do a particular trick while begging, such as standing on its hind legs or you see it does something else that’s cute, such as the sad “puppy dog look,” give it something from the table every time it does that particular trick. Again, that’s rewarding desired behavior.
There are many different ways in teaching your puppy to do what you want it to do. Obedience schools specialize in puppy teaching, but with some of the simple tips in this article, you can do the same thing as obedience schools do and you will have a well behaved and obedient puppy without spending the money for obedience training.