“Sit! Good Dog!” Teaching Your Dog New Tricks (Part 2)

To teach “stay,” place your dog in either the sitting or down position. Grab a yummy treat in one hand and ask your dog to stay while placing your other hand with the palm open in front of his nose. When your dog stays for one or two seconds, give him the treat and verbal praise, and use your release command. You will want to gradually increase the length of the stay.

Once your dog has these building blocks firmly under his belt, you can begin to teach him new and exciting tricks. One of the most popular tricks to teach is “play dead.” To do this, ask your dog to lie down. Teach him to roll on his back by holding a yummy treat in your hand in front of his nose and moving it in a small circle while giving the command “play dead.” As his nose follows the treat, his body should follow until he is on his back. Reward him with the treat and verbal praise. With practice, your dog will be able to associate the command with the behavior and you can wean him off the food reward.

Another popular trick is “shake.” To teach your dog to shake, first get him into the sitting position. Have a treat ready and say, “shake.” Gently grab right behind his paw and lift it into the shake position. Give him the treat. You will need to repeat this step several times until he learns that he will get the treat by lifting his paw by himself. While he is learning “shake,” reward even the smallest attempts at getting into position by himself with food and praise. Eventually he will associate the command “shake” and lifting his paw with positive rewards.

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