Need a Trick!

[Rachel Jones]

I have one week to teach our puppy (Chelsea who is 5 months old) a new trick to perform before she graduates at puppy class! HELP, any ideas??

[Diane Dolphin Rocker]

Hi Rachel - Here is a link with some ideas for easy tricks: http://www.loveyourdog.com/tricks.html. Not great but it will give you some ideas. "High-five" is another really easy one. I've always wanted to teach "bow" with the question "Who's the queen?"! :)) Good Luck!

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

"Who's the queen" that is hilarious. That would be a great trick to teach. That would get you the laugh too. I love it, I am going to have to remember that one when it comes to starting to teach tricks.

[Brenda Hetzel]

High 5 is a good and easy one. My daughter taught our dog in no time at all how to do it. Another cute one I've seen is "Bang" and your dog rolls over dead. THe kids seem to enjoy that one:)

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

I agree with the others. The "play dead" always gets lots of laughs. My husband taught him when he was a puppy. I think he just pushed him over to his side when Dex was already laying down and would say "play dead" and treat. That eventually evolved to him starting in a sitting position and going down himself. Now we use the fake gun and make a fake bang sound and he plays dead. People love when we do that trick!! If you don't have time for that, we got both doodle to do a high five without too much effort :)

[Katie]

Hi. I agree, play dead is always entertaining! Another good one is bow, it looks very polite when they do it. I taught Herbie to bow in about a half hour, and play dead is usually pretty easy to teach as well. Good luck!

[LLongrtr]

The easiest trick is one that favors a behavior your dog already has.

Jumper? Get her to jump for a treat or toy in your hand, on command.
Uses her paws a lot? Teach her to shake paws.
Really good at "down"? Get her to crawl on her belly for a treat (just lead the treat in front of her).

Good luck!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

we call that Samantha's 'army' crawl - for the troops! she is very patriotic!

[Kathy (Ellie & Oliver)]

"Sit Pretty" is easy. Put your puppy in a sit. Hold a treat above Chelsea's nose and move your hand up above her head. Your dog will follow the treat. Eventually she will sit on her hind legs. This trick will help strengthen her back muscles. It looks impressive while easy to learn. Have fun! Kathy (Ellie & Oliver)

[Sam]

We did roll over. Was an easy one to master. Just have Chelsea sit, then drop then use the treat to go behind her head and she will naturally roll. Just make sure you look which way her legs fall when she drops and get her to roll the opposite way. Have fun!!!

[38kijwn0b88tn]

The trick "shake" or "give paw" is much cuter when you say "Say Hi" instead... like how humans shake hands to say hello!
I taught Nala to Sit Pretty even before a regular sit and down! She was really wobbly at first, but got stronger and stronger. Its her best-performed trick since we started learning it at 13 weeks old and shes two now. OR a cool one my visitors like is toy recognition. Any time i bring a new toy home I repeat a name I choose for it several times while playing with it with her. After a while they start to recognize the toy's name. Nala knows all of her toys and will go get them on command no matter where they are. She knows tennis ball, blue ball, red toy, kong, color ball, bone, heart, leopard ball, rope, pink toy, pumpkin, and a couple more. My visitors are amazed at this! After "teaching" her the name of the toy, I say "find color ball" or "where's your color ball?" and she cocks her head as if she was listening to my question, and then runs to find it and bring it to me. I reply with a treat of course, or throw it, as fetch is a good reward for her too.

Practice this at home with three toys. Then take the three toys to the class and TA -DA! Make her pick one and bring it to you! Let me know if you have questions about teaching Chelsea this trick and I can give more suggestions!

[Richard Crowe]

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/5952/indexorg.html

Best of luck....