How to begin teaching dog tricks – Sentinel and Enterprise

DEAR PET TALK: I want to teach my pet to do tricks. How do I do this? – DOG AND CAT LOVER

DEAR DOG AND CAT LOVER: I assume you would like to teach both a dog and cat some tricks! Let’s start with your dog, and talk about cat tricks in a future column.

Dogs are more likely to “learn” tricks because of growing alongside our species for many millennia. We bred canines for a variety of reasons (hunting, guarding, retrieving) which include “pleasing the humans.” This is part of their charm, and the beauty of life with a dog is that you don’t need experience to teach them – just patience. First “think small” and keep training sessions at three to five minutes in a place without distractions. Both Jenn Bragdon and Cap Corduan of TheraPAWS pet teams urge the following: “repetition and rewards.”

Start with basic commands: “Sit,” (rump on floor), “Lie down” (front paws on floor, head above floor). You can teach the latter by having your pup watch your finger as you put it down on the floor while saying “Lie down.” (Treat training will also work – but work on getting your dog to follow your directions just with voice commands as soon as you can). With “give me paw,” or “paw,” do the following. Say “Paw,” and gently lift the dog’s paw. Give him a treat. Do it again. Repeat several times. Dogs need time to have instructions installed on their hard drive, so to speak.

Here’s one I haven’t tried yet, but plan to work on. Some dogs do this more naturally than others (small dogs, and those with terrier traits). This will require a treat for them to get the idea. Hold the treat in your closed hand so your dog knows you have it. Then move your hand in a wide circle around your dog, while encouraging your dog to “follow his nose.” While he does this, use the word “spin.”  After they do one rotation, give them the treat. Eventually, you can graduate to just using the word “spin,” and move your hand in a circle. Let us know how these work out!

Sally Cragin is the director of Be PAWSitive: Therapy Pets and Community Education. Text questions to 978-320-1335.