Tag: dog trick training the fun way

Show off your dog tricks

There are lots of reasons to train your dog to do tricks (see last week’s tip and our earlier article: Dog trick training – how to & why!), but once your dog knows them – what do you do with dog tricks?

Saved for posterity

Booker knows a lot of dog tricks. He and Fran have earned titles showing them off.
Booker knows a lot of dog tricks. He and Fran have earned titles showing them off.

These days, there are lots of options. Impress your friends, family, and the all those eyes on social media with your videos. Entertain everyone at any in-person gatherings. And maybe best of all – have your partnership with your dog permanently part of history by achieving a title for your dog.

What’s a “title” anyway?

Most people have heard of the American Kennel Club (AKC), maybe having seen a dog show on television. What many don’t realize is that the AKC is a registry – it keeps track of everything dog for all AKC events. And while your dog may not have a fancy pedigree – “all-American” dogs (mixed breeds) are welcome in all the dog events except the “beauty pageants” (conformation).

Those events include something for every dog person – Obedience, Rally, Agility, Tracking, Therapy, Lure Coursing, and more. Most relevant to this column? “Trick Dog.”

Yes, your dog can earn a title for performing tricks on video. And you don’t have to go anywhere! The AKC accepts video submissions. All the details are available on the website: https://www.akc.org/sports/trick-dog/about-trick-dog/

Dog tricks galore

The 10 tricks your dog needs to perform for the Novice Title are probably things they already do – or can easily learn in just a few 2-Minute sessions. Things like spin, or hold something for three seconds, jump through a hoop, kiss, shake hands, etc. Your dog can do any of that!

And aside from the certificate you’ll get to acknowledge your dog’s achievement, there’s an intangible extra that matters.

As long as the AKC exists, your partnership with your dog will be part of history. Anyone ever looking at the history of your breed, or Trick Dogs, will know that you and your dog were part of a team. 

It matters

Forever after, there is a record of what a good dog you have. How you had fun together and respected each other. You learned together and became a team that was able to accomplish more than 99 percent of dog owners. Because you cared about each other, played together, learned to adapt to each other. 

And you had fun doing it. 

Start training dog tricks with target practice

Are you intrigued by the idea of training dog tricks and even, possibly going for that Trick Dog title? We hope you are.

Last week we talked about the reasons to do dog trick training: https://2-minute-trainer.com/2020/12/18/dog-trick-training-is-not-only-fun-it-strengthens-the-bond-with-your-dog/

Where do you start? It’s one thing to read a list of tricks and think “my dog could do that,” and another to teach your dog how! 

You and your dog communicate without language. You know particular sounds your dog makes mean something. We all recognize when our dogs act a certain way, they’re trying to tell us something. And we each know our own dogs’ unique traits.

Opening a channel

Sharing a language would really help, wouldn’t it? A first step in creating that training language between you and your dog is to train a basic behavior that will be a common theme for many of the tricks you can train.

One of the most useful is target training your dog. It’s easy, it takes almost no time, and it’s something your dog will recognize and relate to regardless of where you are or what game you’re playing. We use it for training in all of the dog sports for competition. 

Get started with a target

First you’ll need an actual, physical target. We use the white plastic lids from food containers: whipped butter, sour cream, ricotta cheese, etc. We wish ice cream lids were plastic, but they’re not so they don’t hold up.

Torque (French Bulldog) is touching the target with his nose - he'll get a reward for that! Target training is one of the first steps in dog trick training.

Get your target and some treats. Put the target on the floor and if your dog reacts to it in any way, put a treat on the target. If he/she looks at it, sniffs it, licks it, paws at it, any reaction gets a treat. Be sure to put the treat on the target – we’re building value in the “thing.” Don’t hand your dog the treat – he/she already thinks you’re wonderful.  

The actual behavior you really want is for your dog to touch the target with her/his nose. We’ll get picky about that after your dog realizes that the target has value. For now, any interest in the target gets a treat. Five times. Then pick up the target. 

Control the target

It’s important that the dog doesn’t have access to the target when you’re not paying attention. If your dog touches it, and you’re not there to reward the touch, all the progress you’ve made is lost and the target loses value. So if the phone rings, or you have to grab more treats, be sure to pick up the target.

Once your dog catches on to the game, and it shouldn’t take long, you can start changing it up a little. Only reward when the dog’s nose touches the target – stop rewarding for paw touches or looks. Move the target around and see if your dog will run to it. You can even have more than one target and play with your dog moving between them. This is easier if you also have more than one person, or else you’ll be running back and forth with your dog!

Most people are amazed at how easy training dog tricks is. We’re not sure if it’s really easy, or if we have so much fun doing it, we don’t notice. Introducing the target only takes a few minutes. In almost no time, your dog will adore the game and know the “touch” or “target” trick. Training dog tricks really is just this simple.

Target love is deep

Once your dog knows the target game, he/she may find them places you may not expect. Hope’s first French Bulldog, Dax, adored her targets. Her first competition in agility was at an indoor soccer facility. And there were lots of round, white circles on the turf. She checked out quite a few of them! Good girl!

More recently, Hope used the target to introduce Torque to a new trick – “Hide.” She draped a throw over a portable table a few inches above the floor. She tucked the target underneath. Torque was in a “sit, stay,” and watching the whole procedure. He recognized the target right away and was raring to go. When Hope said “Go (his release word) hide!” Torque dashed under the table, touched the target, turned around, laid down, and stuck his face out under the throw. And just like that, Torque started his “Hide!” trick. (See last week’s post!)

Teach the target

We know it won’t take long to teach your dog to “target.” Let us know how it goes! We’re happy to answer questions, and we love hearing about the progress you and your dog are making with your 2-Minute dog training games!