What Are The 10 Easy Dog Tricks For Beginners?

Be it a playful pup or a sedentary senior creature, any dog can learn some simple tricks. You just have to be consistent and patient while you are training your fur baby. Are you wondering about some easy dog tricks for beginners? Let us get started with 10 simple techniques that you can implement in training your dog regardless of its breed and age. Below are the few tricks that you should know as a dog owner and you can also apply these tricks to train your dog at home.

10 Easy Dog Tricks For Beginners:

1. Shake

It is one of the basic tricks where you ask for your dog’s paw in your hand so that you can shake it politely. This gesture builds the dog’s trust in you. Therefore, you can touch their feet and clip their nails easily. You can hold your dog’s favorite treat in your closed hand a little low for your dog to get a sniff. Initially, the dog will lick and sniff your hand for a few minutes. Then, the creature will try touching your hand with its paw. Now, you should reward it with a treat. You need to repeat this procedure till the dog learns to touch your hand immediately after you show it. Next, you can instruct it to ‘shake’ every time it touches your hand with its paw, and do not forget to provide the treat. However, you should never grab the dog’s foot until it is completely ready, else it will only scare the dog from learning this trick. Besides the closed fist, you can also try enforcing the command to make it put its paw on your open hand. 

2. High-Five

With an open palm to paw contact, it is one of the most unique tricks to teach your dog to display mutual enthusiasm. The steps are similar to the ‘shake’ technique. Start by showing your hand with a treat to the dog and lowering your hand to enable the dog to touch it. The dog needs to get habituated to the strategy that touching your hand will make it gain a treat. Once it is done, you can lift your hand higher every time it attempts to touch your hand. However, if you raise your hand higher than the dog’s shoulder height, it will lose interest in learning the trick. You can add the instruction ‘high-five’ as the dog becomes comfortable with the new height. As you start getting positive results, say the command without the treat in your hand and see how your dog adapts to it slowly.

3. Wave

Another super fun trick, you can show off your pet as it welcomes your friends and family hello or even bids them goodbye. The dog can learn this trick with utmost ease if it knows how to high-five or shake. You need to reward the correct behavior that the dog exhibits in the shake or high-five processes. Now, you can change the command to ‘wave’ as it successfully raises its paw without your hand guiding it. The dog might take some time to understand and learn this trick. In case you feel the need, switch to encouraging the dog with your hand until it gets to learn the trick completely.

4. Army Crawl

You can say that crawling without sufficient training is as if present in a dog’s DNA. Therefore, the army crawl technique becomes one of the most convenient and easy dog tricks for beginners. After your dog lies flat on the floor, put a treat on your hand and place it near your dog’s nose so that it can smell the food. Be careful enough to ensure that the dog is not able to steal it from your hand. You have to pull the treat away from the dog slowly while keeping it low near the floor till it starts following your hand in a crawling position. As the dog completes learning the trick, do not forget to reward it with the treat. 

5. Roll Over

This trick involves the dog rolling over onto its back and then onto its stomach. The dog learns to trust you to show its stomach, which is an extremely sensitive spot for dogs. Once you get your dog to attain a ‘down’ position, grab their attention by holding a treat in front of its nose. Then, move the treat to its shoulder slowly while you shift your weight to encourage it to follow and move in the direction of the treat. It might only move three or four steps in the right direction but you should praise it with a reward. Encourage your dog to move more every time as its nose and head keep moving with your hand. As soon as it learns to follow your hand each time, you can move it all the way again. It will make the dog roll its entire body to follow the direction of the treat. After successful completion of this posture, you can enforce the ‘roll over’ command. 

6. Stand Tall

Again this trick involves holding a treat in front of the dog above its head and then moving it backward. Reward your dog once its front paws come up off the floor. When the dog gets the hang of the trick, make it a little difficult for the dog to reach the treat. You need to repeat this training multiple times till the dog learns to stand tall on its own just as you give the command. 

7. Speak

Just like a dog barks to protect you, it can also learn to bark on a given command. Thus, you can gain some control over your pet dog’s speech. The trick works quite well with the ‘quiet command’. First, you have to find something your dog barks at. It can be anything like knocking on a door or a squeaky toy. If you hold a treat for a long time, the dog will start barking to get the treat. Get the creature to bark at anything that makes it bark and then reward it with a treat. Once your dog learns that it will gain a treat if it starts barking, you can add the command ‘speak’. However, you should not treat them if they do not bark at your command or start barking excessively. It will lead to negative behavioral traits. After your dog knows how to ‘speak’, you can also use this trick to know when he wishes to step out.

8. Back Up

It is a kind of trick that makes your dog behave gently in public. You can begin this training with ‘stay’. After taking some steps away from your dog, turn and face it and start moving towards it. If your dog does not start stepping back, you can lean your body forward slightly. Then, say ‘back up’ while moving towards it. Keep rewarding it as it starts backing up on cue. 

9. Jump In Your Lap

Though this technique applies to small dogs, it is one of the best and easy dog tricks for beginners. While sitting cross-legged on the floor, use a treat to entice your dog to jump into your lap. Once the dog does so, praise it with the treat and continue the process until it can go on to your lap without any treatment. Afterward, you can switch to sitting in the chair or on the couch. 

10. Spin

Start training it while the dog is in a standing posture. Use a treat to lure it to turn around in an entire circle. Once it comes back to its starting position, reward and praises it. You need to continue this training until you do not have to lure it with a treat. Instead, you can just use your finger to merely indicate where it needs to go.

Conclusion:

Teaching any behavioral technique will help you in communicating with the dog quickly. It will be a great experience to bond with your furry friend. If you face any challenges in implementing unique tricks to teach your dog, you can contact Primal Needs Behavioral Solutions. 

Hope through this article you got to learn about easy dog tricks for beginners. If you have any queries or suggestions then do let us know in the comment section below.