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.