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 2 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog
Acknowledgements: I’d like to thank Matilda for learning so quickly and eagerly, and for working for whatever I have in my hand. You may not be able to read, but… Happy birthday! Here’s to your first year, may we have many, many, many more together. To the dog-­‐lovers out there: Thanks for downloading, and thanks for making the world a better place to live in. Thanks on behalf of your dogs for being such compassionate and loving pet parents. Love, Lindsay
5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 3 For Best Results
• Keep repetition of commands to a minimum. Otherwise, he may learn to respond to “sit, sit, sit!” instead of “sit.” • Give your dog time to think. Wait 5-­‐10 seconds after giving a command before repeating it. • Don’t scold your dog if he doesn’t understand a trick. Just praise him when he does. • If you or your dog get frustrated, take a break or try again tomorrow. • Practice a few times a week, in short sessions. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 4 • Reward your dog with unseasoned meat, skinned and chopped carrots and apples, or very small dog biscuits. Small pieces give you a lot of practice without upsetting your dog’s stomach. • Be consistent, using the same commands each time. • Take lots of cute pictures and videos! If you’re on Instagram, meet Matilda at @matildawoofwoof. We would love to see your tricks! 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 5 1. Belly Crawl
Also known as the “army crawl” or the “baby crawl.” Every aspiring dog actor should know how to get down and stay low. 1. Start by having your dog lay down. 2. Hold a treat in your hand, just in front of your dog’s nose. If you picked a good treat, your dog will stretch his neck, 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 6 trying to get his nose as close to your hand as possible. 3. Say your command once. 4. Use the treat to guide the dog forward just an inch or two. 5. Give your dog his treat, just for crawling forward the tiniest bit. 6. If your dog stands up, have them lay down again and start over, decreasing the distance your dog must crawl to get his reward. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 7 7. Gradually increase the distance. Some dogs can only crawl a few inches successfully during the first teaching, and that’s okay.
8. Repeat over 10-­‐minute training sessions for the next few days to master the crawl. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 8 2. High Five
The high five is easily adapted into a fist bump, wave or hand shake. For dogs who are very expressive with their paws, these tricks take little to no teaching at all. Just wave your hand near them, and they’ll usually respond. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 9 That’s the case with Matilda – she’s very light-­‐
bodied, so it’s very easy for her to reach up with her paws. Stocky and short-­‐legged dogs may take longer to master tricks like these. 1. Initiate the high-­‐five, and say your command one time. 2. If your dog high-­‐fives you back, give him a treat. If not, you’ll have to guide him towards lifting his paw. 3. Many dogs will lift a paw when a treat is placed over their shoulder. Reward your dog as he looks over his shoulder, then only when he lifts a paw as he looks. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 10 4. Gradually minimize the over-­‐the-­‐
shoulder guidance as your dog associates lifting his paw with a treat. 5. After a few successful paw lifts, touch your dog’s paw as you give the command. 6. Then, reward your dog when he touches your hand in the classic high-­‐five fashion. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 11 Adapt your high-­‐five into a fist-­‐bump by simply offering your fist and giving a new command. Dogs can’t make fists, so this will just have to do. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 12 3. Use A Generic Tablet Your dog won’t care if it’s Apple or not. This trick is best paired with cool apps. The possibilities are endless. Teach your dog to paint digital pictures, play with a keyboard app, or write snarky comments on Instagram. 1. First, get your dog interested in your device. Let them sniff it, and praise them for interacting with it. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 13 2. Place dry treats on the screen, saying your command as your dog snaps them up. 3. Tap the screen with your fingers as you give the command – this drives some dogs to scratch at your hands and device, making it easy for you to encourage them to use their paws on the screen. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 14 4. Treat as your dog completes the desired action. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 15 Say “I Love You” If nonverbal expressions of love aren’t cutting it anymore, you can teach your dog to say that he loves you. 1. First, teach your dog to bark on command. The hardest part is getting your dog to bark when he’s focused on 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 16 you. You can ring a doorbell, if it helps. Or, you can say the command, then stare at your dog silently for 10 seconds while he tries to figure out what to do. I find that after a few tries, the dog will bark out of frustration – only to realize he’s hit the treat jackpot. 2. Now that your dog speaks on command, get him in a talkative mood by having him speak a few times. Then, tell him you love him. Say “I-­‐LOVE-­‐you” just as you want him to say it: In three clear barks, the middle “love” bark should be the loudest. 3. At first, reward anything that sounds like an attempt, then only reward the best tries. 4. Over time, as you reward the best “I love yous,” your dog will start to sound better and better. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 17 5. Practice just a few times a day, taking care not to let your dog wear out his voice. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 18 5. Spin Around You might want to add a tutu to this trick for extra effect. At first, most dogs don’t seem to get this trick, and need a lot of guidance to start spinning around. But they always get it eventually. 1. Start by having your dog sit. 2. Use a treat to begin to guide your dog into turning around, saying your 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 19 command. 3. Reward at the quarter turn, when you’re holding the treat over the dog’s shoulder. 4. Continue guiding your dog until she starts to get the idea. 5. Gradually guide your dog less and less. Encourage the dog to turn on her own when you say the command, without you guiding her with a treat. 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog – Free eBook from LittleDogTips.com 20 Keep teaching your dog
tricks!
I always feel more connected with my dog after we master a trick together; I’m sure you feel it too. The more you train your dog, the more you’ll be able to understand her unique learning process. It’ll be easier to train her out of bad behaviors when you replace them with good ones. As you teach your dog, she’ll look into your eyes more often, looking for guidance and instruction. She loves to be taught by you, and she loves to learn. She’s bound to surprise you by what she’s capable of. ♥
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