Teaching your dog new tricks provides a multitude of benefits, such as it’s a great way to keep them mentally stimulated, promotes physical activity, as well as ensures an optimal environment to bond with your canine friend. Additionally, it’s just fun to be able to show off your dog’s new tricks to friends and family. Fortunately, you don’t need to be an expert to teach your dog simple tricks as most furry friends enjoy the challenge of learning, as well as the treats that come with the process. Keep reading to learn 5 easy tricks you can teach your dog and the best practices to remember while conducting these trainings.

Sit

Given how there’s virtually no trick that can be taught without having a treat involved, simply sitting is a great place to start your training. Sitting on cue is the cornerstone of many other tricks and should be a command that all dogs should know. By holding their favorite treat up in the air, most dogs should automatically sit upon looking upwards. Congratulate them on how well they sat and give them the treat. On the next attempt, introduce the word “Sit” as you raise their treat and their butt sits back on the ground. Continue repeating this process to instill the trick in their memory.

Shake

Once they know how to sit, teaching your furry friend how to shake is a logical next step. For this trick, hold their favorite treat just out of reach in front of their view. As most dogs will raise their paw in an effort to get the treat, catch their paw with your other hand and state the “Shake” command. Continue repeating this process until your dog connects the action with the command and, in time, they should be lifting their paw when given the cue.

Stay

Teaching your dog how to stay in place is an important trick that can help regulate their impulse control. After you’ve commanded them to sit, stay where you are and state the cue for them to “Stay”. If your dog remains seated after some time, voice their release word (we recommend “Ok”, “Go”, or “Release”) and reward them with a treat. After repeating this process, try to walk back and see if they remain seated in place. If so, begin increasing the duration of how long their seated for and walk further away before stating their release word. As your canine masters this trick, continue to challenge them by walking further away and sustaining a longer length that they’re seated for. 

Come

Training your dog to come to you on command is a useful ability in many situations. To teach this trick, start by standing a few feet away from your furry friend and call their name, immediately followed by the cue to “Come”, and reward them with a treat if they walk straight to you. Along each subsequent practice, begin to softly state their name and pronounce the command word louder. Over time, they should start associating this process with the word “Come”.

Speak

The relative ease of teaching this trick depends on if your dog is a naturally vocal or quiet canine. Start by showing your dog their favorite treat and not letting them have it. Eventually, most dogs will bark, at which point you should immediately state “Speak” and reward them. Repeat this process several times so that they understand the command cue is prompting them to bark.

Canine Behavior Support & Cognitive Support

For all of the above tricks, you’ll find more success if you keep training durations to no more than 10-minutes and keep this process up every day. In time, your furry friend should be able to learn the 5 simple tricks listed above.

However, if your dog is having issues learning these tricks, Dr. Bill’s Canine Behavior Support will significantly improve their changes. Our Canine Behavior Support provides 35-essential ingredients to support a calm demeanor and a healthy stimuli response. Behavior Support has also been shown to be helpful during periods of stress, such as altering behavior response during moments when you are trying to teach them a new trick.

Additionally, Dr. Bill’s Canine Cognitive Support helps slow cognitive decline in your dog and improves motor function. Giving your pet a pill can be a challenge, that’s why most of our supplements are formulated as a powder that can be sprinkled dry onto any diet or moistened to make a tasty, nutritious broth. It’s easy and dogs love the flavor. Providing our furry friends with additional antioxidants and specialty nutrients to maintain normal brain function and neurotransmission is critical, and sadly cannot be found in commercially manufactured diets. Dr. Bill’s Canine Cognitive Support has proven to be superior in maintaining and even reversing the signs of cognitive dysfunction.