The first thing that you should typically teach your dog is basic obedience training. This involves simple commands like sit, fetch, come, etc. and can be done easily. Also, this is the beginning, so your dog feels comfortable with these simple commands.
However, you would surely like your dog to do much more than simply sit and stand. Dogs are wonderful creatures that can amuse people with their tricks. It is not very difficult to teach your dog tricks that it can perform. These tricks can amuse you and you can show them off in front of friends.
However, more importantly, training your dog for tricks forms a strong bond between you and your dog which is very helpful to have a good relationship with your pet. Also, teaching and learning tricks forms a welcome break from the otherwise monotonous relationship that most pet owners have with their dogs.
The first thing that you will need to consider is what tricks to teach your dog. This may seem like a simple question – after all, you can look up all the dog tricks you want on the Internet and choose the ones that you like, right? Wrong.
Not all dogs are amenable to all tricks. There is always a certain ‘natural’ inclinations that are unique to each dog. Therefore if the trick goes against his natural tendency, it will be difficult to teach it to your dog. On the other hand, if the tricks in fact go with his natural tendencies, then it becomes simpler to teach the trick to your dog.
Therefore, choosing the tricks you want to teach your dog should not be done in haste. First, you should understand your dog well and only then will you be able to decide which tricks are best suited for your dog.
Once you understand the natural tendencies of your dog, all you have to do is to associate the verbal command with the action. This can take time, but be patient, as it is not very difficult. To reinforce this, you can simply reward your dog each time he gets it right. This will hasten the training process drastically and your dog will learn the tricks much sooner.
Again, remember never to punish your dog but use only positive reinforcement during training. This should be a universal rule to follow during any training that you undertake with your dog, however small or big the training may be.
As an example, suppose your dog loves to raise its paws up. You can now teach your dog how to ’shake-hands’ on command. All you have to do is associate this action with a command, by saying “shake-hands”. Therefore you simply need to say this command, and deliberately raise the paw of your dog. After a few trials, your dog will understand what you want him to do, and when he gets it right, you can simply reward your dog as part of positive reinforcement strategy to train him. Since it is a natural tendency for your dog to raise its paw, this trick can be taught to him very easily.
Remember that with age, it becomes more and more difficult to teach tricks to your dog. At the same time, you should not start off too early as the puppies may not be mentally developed enough to understand the commands. It is important to strike a balance. Also, you should not undertake tricks training before you completely know and understand your dog’s unique personality and disposition.
