I wanna teach my little genius dog some new tricks, need ideas...?

Question

Got any ideas, and directions on how to teach them?
my dog's great, she already knows sit, and come, and she just recently got fixed, but is overall healthy. She walks fine off the leash, i can even let her in my front yard (which has no fencing), and not have to worry about her running off, even if there are other people or dogs running around, she just sits there like a good dog, and i didn't even train her that! i just want some more tricks to be able to teach her, because she seems to be able to catch on very quickly and i don't want to waste that!

Thanks a Bunch!!

Answer 1

Maybe you could start with "drop" or "down" because this is always useful!! some fun tricks i taught my dog (which she picked up very quickly) are "high 5", "shake", "belly up", find the keys", "focus" and "dance" these are all very easy tricks to teach ur pup!! using a clicker will help the process even more, but research it because u have to click it at exactly the right time. (this is when ur dog starts to make a move to do what u say, not before, and not once they have finished. i.e. u ask ur dog to sit. u click as her back legs start to fold and her bum starts to drop, not once her bum is already on the floor)

high 5 and shake are very easy, but i would reccomend teaching "shake" first. all you do is hold a small treat in ur right hand. take ur left hand and pick up ur dogs paw. repeat the work "shake" every time u pick up her hand and treat her only with her paw still in ur hand. eventually u will only have to hold out ur hand and say "shake". ur dog will do the rest. once u have taught her that, hold r hand up higher in a high 5 position. repeat the command. ur dog will already know shake, so she will understand that she just needs to reach a little higher.

"find the keys" is always useful!! all u need to do is rub her favorite treat all over ur keys. let her smell them. put them in an obvious place where she can see them (like under a pilloe with more than half the keys sticking out). tell her "find my keys". treat when she finds them. keep repeating this and hiding it in more hard to find places as she starts to get the hang of the command!

"focus" is an unreal thing to teach ur dog to do. if u r ever in a situation where u need her to look at u and give u her full attention, this is a good one. its sooo easy too!! hold a treat near ur face. trust me she will look at u!! repeat "focus *name*" (i.e. my dog's name is Lilie, so I say "focus, Lilie") keep repeating this over and over, and treating her every time she gives u her full attention for over 5 seconds.

ok, now, dance... you hold a treat over her head so she has to stand on her hind legs a little. them move the treat around in a circle so she has to turn around to get it in one full circle. repeat "dance" and treat every time she completes the full circle.

i will add now, do not ever attempt to teach ur dog another trick unless she has learned the previous one first. she will get confused. also, never try and teach her more than one is a day. give her time. some may take a few days or even a week. only spend around 5-10 minutes teaching her the trick at a time. her attention will wander and she will get tired. give her hour or so breaks every time u spend 5-10 minutes with her and then try again. always play with her after u 2 have been learning together. she will think that learning is fun and is more inclined to try to learn if she knows she will get some play time afterwards!!

i hope i helped!! learning with ur dog is so much fun and a great bonding experiance!!

ps- whenever u r planning on teaching her a trick, make sure it is quiet. turn off all tv's and radios as tyhis will distract her!!

GOOD LUCK!! =)

Answer 2

I can tell you what I did, maybe that will help.

My dachshund and I play on the floor a lot and always have. When he was a puppy I used to roll him over. Every single time I'd physically roll him over I'd say, "roll over". Within a very short time, he started to respond and if I said "roll over" he'd start trying to do it. He's five now and he's added his own twist to it. Now he spins in a circle first and then rolls over.

The other we taught him was to speak. With this we used a treat. We'd hold up the treat and ask if he wanted it. Of course he wanted it. He'd whine and roll over and whine some more. When he finally barked, we'd say "good boy speak". Then after a couple days of that, we'd ask him to speak. When he'd finally do it (it takes time you know, to learn) we'd praise him and give him a treat. We've taught him to back up too. That SHOULD be an easy one for your dog. If you watch you'll probably notice that if you catch your dog somewhere she shouldn't be or doing something she should be and you fuss at her, she'll back away. For us, it was staying out of bathrooms and the kitchen. I just started saying "back up" when he'd back up, and he learned to do it on command.

Hope this helped.

Answer 3

I am teaching my Akita to do search and rescue:
Get small peices of cheese then place one not too far from your dog on a chair arm or under a carpet but sticking out a bit. Put a piece of cheese under nose then say "Find". Push dog in direction of cheese for first time. Your dog will sniff out cheese. Help it at first if you have too. When it finds cheese let it eat it and praise the dog. Keep doing this for two nights half hour each. Your dog will soon understand what "Find" command is. Then put peice of cheese inside a sock. Place sock under dogs nose and hide sock. Now say find. When dog finds sock put the sock in it's mouth and say fetch. Then walk to other side of room with dog following you. When it is at your feet say Release and when the dog drops sock give it a cheese treat. Do this for two nights. Then just place sock under nose of dog and get the dog to sniff out the sock. When it finds sock say fetch - when it brings sock to you say sit and realease. If it does this give cheese treat. Then do this with other clothe items. Again at first you might have to help the dog ( a little) everytime it gets it right give cheese. Your dog will then be able to do search and rescue. It might even find you if you are in trouble one day.

Answer 4

What a great dog you have.
Hi 5's and shakes are cute but annoying, a dog can scratch someone doing that.
Roll over and oplay dead is cute, but can get their stomachs hung up/

I am sorry to be a party pooper, but have had some negative experiences with those.
But hey,...whatever works.

I for one like useful , fun stuff....Like getting the paper, or slippers
My dog was super alert and intelligent, and I started agility with him.

I am not saying that it was useful, but he just wanted to please, and have fun, so that worked for us.
I would have liked to been able to train him to get me a cold one.

Answer 5

I think if u do some tricks urself when shez around she will surely catch on it for eg. if u jump in front of her and with ur hands u encourage her to do the same she most definately will do so. So all I think is try getting some ideas in ur daily life and when u think she can do them easily make her do it with u and yeah while doing so talk to her tell her wat it is. I hope this helps in some way. I had a brilliant cat he knew where i used to keep potato wafers and when he wanted some he used to go and sit right in front of that spot so I'd know wat he really wanted...now this he came to know coz he used to c me where i did go to fetch the wafers same way with everything when our pets get the hang of it and if they r brilliant they can tell us many things....one of my other cat saw me know the door and when he used to come home he used to stretch and knock on the door knocker at first i was amazed but they observe and do learn.

Answer 6

teach her to shake hands, roll over, and smile..