Top Four Dog Tricks to begin training with - Dog Training for Essex and Suffolk

Dog Tricks are very individual and we can choose tricks to work on that our dog is more likely to enjoy.

When I’m starting with a new puppy or rescue dog in my family there are a few tricks I like to start with due to their ease of achieving, ways to adapt and how much they can help with tricks in the future.

Here are my top four foundation tricks and why I recommend them in your foundations:

Nose Target:

Teaching dogs to bop your hand with their nose on cue is a great introduction to tricks as well helping puppies, rescue dogs, shy dogs etc to feel comfortable with the process of doing something and receiving a treat, praise etc in return.

Lucy using Nose Touch during Fitness Class

There are three stages to get started with nose touch and here is stage one:

Close a treat inside your closed fist.

Hold your closed hand close to your dog’s nose so they sniff it and as they sniff their nose will make contact with your hand. At the point of contact give a cue word (I use ‘Touch’) and open your hand to give your dog their treat.

Repeat this a few times so your dog learns bopping your hand with their nose when you ask them to gets a treat and some praise.

“Snoot”:

This is a bit of fun but also can help with more handling around a dog’s face and mouth if they are unsure as again they make the decision to move towards your hand not the other way.

Start by making a circle with your thumb and one finger on the same hand. Hold up your circle near your dog’s nose. Use your other hand to hold a treat and push through your ‘circle’ towards your dog and encourage them to take it.

Repeat this a few times then each time you put the treat through the circle keep it slightly more your side so your dog starts moving their nose into the ‘circle’ to get the treat

After a few repetitions have the treat on your side of the finger and thumb circle and as your dog puts their nose in for the treat add a cue word – I use ‘Snoot’.

Few more repetitions and try holding your circle hand up and ask for Snoot then treat in the normal way from your other hand.

Front Paws Up:

Ripley and Pepper using Paws Up at Jimmy’s Farm

A great foundation trick that has many uses including helping raise your dog’s neck and torso to help putting collars and harnesses in if you have mobility issues or a bad back day (I have these a lot!!), helps your dog to be steady if they are usually bouncy, makes for great photos as you can see your dog’s face better and we use this for more advanced tricks such as straddle, pivot and say prayers.

Find a low item that is not slippery and doesn’t rock or move on the ground. Low varies for each dog but under the height of their elbow.

Lure your dog’s nose towards the item and lift up so your dog’s nose go above the item and up a little.

As soon as one paw touches the item praise and give a treat. It’s fine for your dog to step off again here. Repeat this and they will start using both front paws before long.

Once they realise that putting their front paws on the item gets a reward you can add a cue word like Paws or Paws Up.

Up On Platform:

Once you teach your dog platform training you won’t look back! Asking your dog to get onto a platform on cue helps with focus overall, adding distance to an exercise or trick, helping with static positions such as stays through having a boundary plus can be super helpful with smaller dogs! One regular use for my dogs is getting onto veterinary scales confidently.

Platforms can be anything you want them to be!! Decking board squares, individual trampolines, the sofa or footstool, aerobic steps, specific platforms like a Klimb or Cato board or something you make! They don’t have to be tall, just not slippery and something your dog can get onto.

You can start by asking for front paws up on the platform like with the Paws Up trick we did before. Then lure your dog to follow a treat so they move further onto the platform and the back feet will follow. Reward once on and then allow to come off or actually guide to come off. Repeat a few times.

Start adding a cue word for getting onto the platform like ‘hup’ or ‘on it’ as your dog is getting all paws on it.

Next start asking your dog to do something they find easy once on the platform which might be sit, nose touch, give paw etc. reward and if they want to get off, let them.

Then you can use a platform to ask for all kinds of tricks as long as your dog is comfortable on the platform and the trick takes into account the size of the platform.

There are 100’s of different types of tricks to choose from – and we have tutorials for over 100 in our online Dog Tricks Club! New tricks videos added each month showing you methods, alternative versions etc plus you can ask questions about tricks you are working on or send me clips to give feedback on.

Take a look with 7 days for free with this link Here https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/a3t6j0

If you like to work on various tricks in your own time you might prefer our paperwork tricks book ‘Tricks for all Tails’ which is available through Amazon and provides written tutorials for a host of tricks with helps for smaller dogs and for larger dogs so there’s no guessing on how to teach your dog!

Link for the book – which makes a perfect gift: https://amzn.eu/d/0fmseTM4