I teach my dogs pretty much everything they need to know via tricks. Afterall, agility, obedience, tracking, disc dog... - it's all just another dog trick.
Tricks train them to think, to use their body and mind. Tricks teach them that there is no difference between working and playing and gives them the right attitude. Teaching tricks teaches them that they’re the smartest dogs in the world, that there are no mistakes and no failure, that trying things is good. Tricks give them confidence in their thinking abilities and moves, improve their strength, balance and coordination. Tricks build a bond between me and them and create a deeper understanding for them how I think and for me how they think. Tricks make them feel important, smart, confident, needed and bonded with me.
Tricks are very important for young dogs as they learn to use their body and mind that way. They're also great for cross training of competing dogs, it keeps all the muscle active and strong and prevents injuries. And it's especially great for old dogs, as tricks keep them mentally and physically active and that's what keeps them young and healthy.
AND they don't take much time, space or equipment, so you don't have any excuse not to teach some tricks to your dog!
Here is the right place to post your videos to give us some ideas, to ask questions on "how to" or ask for a suggestion if you get stuck somewhere on a way.
Here comes one of my favourite videos:
To learn more about tricks, please see my training DVDs on tricks.
Last call for 
Hi Silvia, Lo, La, Bu, Bi and the new edition: Le!
Congratulations on your new puppy. She is so adorable!
I was wondering how you socialized your dogs/puppies to different people, places, sounds, and other dogs?
What did you do to make the experiences positive, instead of neutral?
All of your amazing dogs seem to have such a sweet temperament:).
If your dogs showed any signs of fear or apprehension, how did you respond?
Also, do you recommend using crates for dogs? If so, for what and how long would you recommend the dog be in a crate?
Hi Silvia, Lo, La, Bu, Bi and Le! I admire your dogs! You are great! How do I learn Parson Russell Terrier lift the back legs, limp on front leg and clippers? How do I motivate him to me looking at his feet when walking? Thank you for your reply:).
PS: When you add a video to Le? I look forward to :)… Thank you, thank you, thank you :)… And I apologize for errors in the text, I’m from the Czech Republic.
Here’s new videos of two new tricks Sleet and Wren have learnt. Both are still works in progress but they’ve pretty much got them cracked.
Performing the skipping gait in heel position
Their new leapfrog duo trick…true leapfrog, not just jumping over each other sideways.
Hi Silvia
I love your tricks of your amazing dogs… I often learn the same tricks 😉
But i’ve a question about one of your trick with La.
Hou did you learn La, that she jumps in your arms and at the same moment, she turns and pushes away of your body and lands on the ground? (I hope you unterstand the question in my bad english) I don’t now, how i can learn this my dog…
Do you mean a vault?
Mine both do vaults too and I taught them by starting off sitting on a chair and getting them to jump on my knee. As they did, I tossed a toy for them so that they jumped straight off after it. They tend to find a side they prefer to jump from and, my two like opposite sides to each other so they make a great double vault trick. When you start off, have them jump on from slightly to one side of where you are facing and toss their toy slightly to the other once they’re on your knee so their course makes a sort of arrow point shape with the point being on your knee….if you get me.
Once mine were doing it ok on a chair, I started to lean with my back against a wall but with legs bent and do the same then…this works those leg muscles, lol. I gradually straightened up as their confidence increased until I was perfectly upright. I then moved away from the wall. It took a little longer to move away from the wall with sleet…even an inch…the little bugger knew if I wasn’t leaning against it…but I gradually convinced her to vault whilst I was freestanding…just some dogs take longer to get that confidence than others.
Hope this helps.
Try as Toni-Marie says, you can see it in
Bi, 7 months: some more tricks
rel=”nofollow”>this video
-- this is how I taught Bu and Bi.La… She is natural, she thought of this trick all on her own when she tried to jump in my lap and I was not prepared to catch her… Even Le did something similar a couple of times already, looks like it’s in their genes 🙂
Without checking out the video, I think it was a clip of you sitting on your settee and having the dogs jump on and off your knee there which gave me the idea for starting mine off with it using the chair.:D
My three kids 🙂
why is this pict in “tricks”: teaching my two large dogs to enter a bowl started by teaching them to get all four feet on the child-size chairs. Then I put the bowl on the sit of the chair and they climbed in, now they enter the bowl on the ground 🙂
Picture to follow.
Noa.
Here is the performance snap-shot 🙂
Noa.
Thanks Toni-Marie and Silvia… Yes, i meant a vault… Now, i can learn it my dog 🙂
And Silvia, concratulate to your WC qualification with Bu and La!!
Good Luck…
Have fun with your vault training. Be sure to wear some thicker clothes at least until your dog gets the hang of it. You do feel their claws lol.
Here is a video with just some things that we did for our first month together with Lee :o)
…she’s a pyrshep off course.
I hope someone will like it. There is no really fancy stuff but I believe it’s nice anyway ;o)
Oh my, she’s just too cute. 🙂
Check out Kaine’s new trick video:
Hi! Could you tell me how to start teaching the trick, where the dog is jumping on the feet of the person, who is laying on his back and holding the legs up -- like on the photo by Maja Rokavec on the frontpage. My 6 months old mudi puppy is already jumping nicely on a person’s back and shoulders and holding a balance there. But it seem’s quite complicated to start with the feet … Do you put first some target object there?