How To Train A Dog To Take A Bow

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Taking a bow is a nice trick that you can ask a dog to do after performing any other trick or routine. It is easier to teach this with the aid of a treat to lure him into the position that you can reinforce.

1. Stand in front of your dog with a treat, when he is looking at you and in the standing position place the treat under your foot. If he sits down pick the treat up again and encourage him to stand.
2. When you put the treat under your foot the dog will probably attempt to tap your foot with his front paws and sniff your foot in order to encourage release of the treat. When he does these things release the treat by lifting your foot ONLY if his rear is up in the air.
3. This may take patience but by waiting until he is completely in the bowing position you will be reinforcing only the position that you want your dog in for this trick
4. If your dog sits or lies down you can either pick up the treat and move away, inadvertently encouraging him to stand or wait for him to change into the bowing position before reinforcement of the correct behavior.
5. When the position offered is almost perfect introduce the command words and stop putting the treat under your foot. Simply reward directly from your hand when your dog takes a bow.
6. Gradually move further from your dog so that he can take a bow despite being a distance from your foot. Simultaneously bring the command word forward until your dog can bow on command.

Top tip; this can be a challenge to teach but watching your dog take a bow on command is rewarding and great fun, keep at it.

Dog trainers love this trick because it encourages intensive learning from the dog and also is a great addition to any other routine; the bow adds polish at the end of an already great trick.

How To Train A Dog To Go To Sleep

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

A trick that, carried out well, will give the impression that your dog is fast asleep when in fact he will just be laying perfectly still waiting for his release from the position.

1. For this trick you will need to reinforce your dog’s behavior when he is lying down, you can either ask him to lie down if he already knows the command or you can wait until he offers the position in order to obtain a withheld reward.
2. When he is lying down you can introduce the reinforcement and reward by acknowledging the position and giving him the treat. If you reward for complete stillness and build up the time gradually your dog will lie down and stay completely still waiting for his treat as soon as you reinforce the position.
3. Introduce the command, sound asleep and then gently bring the command forward until your dog knows what the statement means.

Top tip; the amount of time that your dog lies still can be as long as you want it to be, providing you build it gradually.

Dog trainers love this trick because it enables the control within the home and encourages the dog to settle, this trick can be varied when teaching your dog to settle in his bed.

How To Train A Dog To Go To Bed

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Great and easy to teach telling your dog to go to bed looks extremely impressive particularly when your dog is sent across a large room to seek out his sleeping quarters.

1. The first thing to do is target your dog to his bed and you can begin this by placing a treat on the bed in view of your dog then leading him away across the room. Place the treat on the bed out of reach of the dog, so he needs to climb onto his bed before getting the treat.
2. Let go of your dogs collar and allow him to go to the bed and get the treat, stating the command go to bed. When he is fully on his bed reinforce this action and approach you dog with his reward.
3. Repeat the previous two stages until your dog is running to his bed then stop putting the reward onto the bed, just use the reinforcement and reward when your dog reaches his bed.
4. Bring the command word forward until your dog is following the command to go to his bed.

Top tip; after teaching this trick you can move the bed around the room to ensure that your dog knows exactly what you mean when you say go to bed. This technique is called targeting.

Dog trainers love this trick because as well as looking good it also provides dog owners some control within the home.

How To Train A Dog To Wave Goodbye

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Waving goodbye to an audience is a great trick. Even if the audience is just you it will warm your heart to see your dog waving enthusiastically towards you. Waving is a great prelude to many tricks and wonderful when you are waving to departing visitors from your front doorstep.

1. Ask your dog to sit in front of you but at a slight distance and give him the command that you use for shaking hands.
2. Your dog will lift his paw but not be close enough to touch you so he should just swipe the air. Reinforce this swipe with a cue and reward and repeat a number of times.
3. Gently withhold the reinforcement and reward until your dog tries harder and lifts his paw higher in order to encourage you to give him the treat.
4. Introduce the command wave and reward each time your dog gives an impressive wave with his paw.

Top tip; this trick works best if the dog is sitting down therefore only reward the attempts to wave whilst your dog is sitting on the ground.

Dog trainers love this trick because it is another way for the dog to greet people without getting too excited and jumping up. Whilst the dog is thinking about a wave he will be focused and concentrating on the trick.

How To Train A Dog To Say His Prayers

A fun trick that involves your dog sitting and placing his front legs onto a prop before dropping his head in apparent prayer. Once the dog knows the position, from his trick entitled hands up, he will get the idea of this one perfectly.

1. Use the treat and reinforcement, as you did with the hands up trick, but this time encourage your dog to put both paws onto a box or chair or even onto your leg whilst you are sitting down.
2. It is important that your dog stays in the sitting position whilst learning where to put his front paws.
3. When he is confident putting both paws up on your chosen prop begin to withhold the reinforcement and reward until he lowers his head between his front legs.
4. With fine tuning this position looks like the dog is saying a final prayer before going to bed. Add the command say your prayers and slowly bring the word forwards so that the dog is getting into the position when asked.

Top tip; When your dog has learned his position then by gently withholding the treat a few seconds more each time you can teach him to hold completely still whilst he is saying his prayers. This gives an amusing and fitting solemn appearance to the trick.

Dog trainers love this trick because it looks great and is quite a unique position for the dog to adopt, which encourages thought from the dog therefore providing mental stimulation.

How To Train A Dog To Fetch Your Bear

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Teaching you dog to fetch a particular item is pretty easy. It is just a case of showing him what the item is referred to as. In this case we will teach him to fetch a teddy bear but feel free to replace the bear with any toy that your dog may prefer.

1. Have some treats, a teddy bear and your dog in a room and simply place the bear on the floor in front of your dog.
2. When he looks towards the toy pinpoint the behavior and reward with a treat.
3. Repeat this a few times gradually encouraging your dog to touch and pick up the bear by withholding the response and the treat.
4. Now each time you dog picks up the toy use the command word bear, and then pinpoint the behavior then reward with a treat.
5. You can then encourage your dog to swap the bear for a treat and increase the distance he goes to fetch his toy and carry it back to you.

Top tip; when your dog fetches his bear confidently you can add other toys into the training area and only reward him for bringing the one called bear back to you.

Dog trainers love this trick because teaching a dog the name of items and to bring them for a reward has so much potential. It can work on everything from general focus to recall at the park.

How To Train Your Dog To Yawn

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Used to provoke a yawn the statement, are you tired, can give the impression that you are actually communicating with a sleepy dog. Surprisingly this is quite an easy behavior to reinforce during dog training sessions. A dog may yawn during a training session if he is confused or unsure what to do next.

This reaction is simply because yawning in the canine communication world is actually a calming signal which dogs offer when communicating with another dog or in fact any other creature at all, including human beings.

1. To utilize this natural behavior you will need to withhold a treat until your dog becomes confused about how he can get you to hand it over.
2. Stand or sit in front of your dog then show him a tasty treat.
3. Observe him as he tries to work out how to get the treat but don’t allow him to take it from you, if he moves near to the treat simply hold it out of his reach.
4. Your dog will be thinking intensively and at some point will yawn, because he is unsure what to do next. Reward of the yawn is crucial.
5. Repeat the previous three stages and your dog will yawn sooner each time, add your command word.

Top tip; it may take longer for your dog to offer the yawn than one of the other behaviors so patience with this trick will get you the best results.

Dog trainers love this trick because it is a great example of shaping a natural behavior to give the effect of cross species communication.

How To Train Your Dog To Be Quiet

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

A natural trick to teach a dog that is fond of barking. This can be taught directly after teaching your dog to bark or as a standalone trick for a constantly woofing dog.

1. Ask your dog to bark and show him that you have a treat.
2. When he looks towards you and ceases barking for a moment reinforce the pause and offer a reward.
3. Introduce the command for your dog to be quiet and then practice, bringing the command forward gradually will ensure that your dog is quiet when you ask him to be.

Top tip; each time your dog pauses naturally during barking episodes throughout the day offer the command for quiet followed by a treat. He will soon learn to be quiet as it benefits him.

Dog trainers love this trick and often pass on the successful method to dog owners that are having trouble with a barking dog.

How To Train Your Dog To Speak

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Teaching your dog to bark on command is easy and even more useful because you can then teach him quietness on command too.

1. Have your dog sit in front of you and make him aware that you have a treat for him if he does something useful.
2. Withhold the treat and he will soon offer a whine or yap in order to get you to hand over the treat.
3. As soon as he makes a sound reward and reinforce this sound then gradually withhold the reward in order to provoke a bigger sound from your dog.
4. Add the command word when he barks regularly and slowly bring the word forward until your dog is barking on cue.

Top tip; move swiftly on to the next trick and learn how to make your barking dog stop.

Dog trainers love this trick and often teach it (and the next trick) in order to control a raucous barking canine.

How To Train Your Dog To Put His Hands Up

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Hands up is a fantastic trick that looks great. The dog is taught to sit back and hold both front paws up simultaneously. Easy to reinforce by offering the word hands up and a treat each time the dog manages to get both front paws off the ground. The pure position of this trick makes it look like it was really difficult to teach but if you reward with good timing early on then the dog will perfect his position with little effort from you.

1. Begin with your dog in the sit position and stand in front of him holding a treat.
2. The idea is to encourage your dog to stay in a sit position yet offer a quick lure with the treat from his nose upwards until his front paws leave the ground, then reward.
3. If the dog gets up from the sit position in an attempt to take the treat ask him to sit again and make the lure less prominent.
4. Repeat the previous two stages until the dog stays in a sit position and is able to lift both his front paws off the ground.
5. Reward each time his paws leave the ground then when he is confident to do this slightly withhold the reward until he begins to try harder by lifting both feet higher off the ground each time he does this reward his finest attempt with a treat. Add your command word.

Top Tip Timing must be perfect when teaching tricks so pinpoint exactly what you would like your dog to do more of until his position is exactly what you would like.

Dog trainers love this trick because it teaches the dog focus and to concentrate on gaining a reward by getting into an unnatural position.