Fun things to teach your dog

Take a bow:

What You Need:

All you need to train a dog to take a bow is your dog and some treats. You may also want to have a clicker on hand if you are using clicker training as part of your dog training.

Here's How to Do It:

1. 1. Start with your dog standing up. It's helpful if your dog is able to stand on command. If he hasn't mastered this basic command yet, you may want to work on it before moving on to step 2.
    
2. 2. Hold a treat at the tip of your dog's nose, and slowly move it down, holding it close to your dog's body. In this way, you will use the treat to lure your dog down until his elbows are on the floor with his rear end remaining up.
    
3. 3. Hold your dog in the bow for a few seconds, and then use the treat to lure him back into a standing position.
    
4. 4. As soon as your dog completes the bow and standing up, tell him "good" or click your clicker, and give him the treat.
    
5. 5. Practice the bow command with your dog several times a day for no more than 5 minutes each time. Before you know it, your dog will be taking a bow on command.

Roll Over:

What You Need:

You will need a handful of treats and a soft area for your dog to practice rolling over.

Break It Down into Smaller Parts:

While it would be great if your dog rolled over all at once, most people find that their dog is not turning all the way around to follow the treat on the first try. Your dog may jump up, wiggle, or move his head around to the other side to try to get the treat.

If this is the case with your dog, you can break his training into smaller parts.

With your dog lying down, hold a treat at your dog's nose and move it towards his shoulder. The moment he turns his head, click or praise him and give him a treat. Practice this several times until he's consistently turning his head.

Next, stop giving your dog a treat for every head turn. Give treats only for the head turns that bring him closest to lying on his side. Next, only give your dog praise and a treat when he's lying on his side completely. In this way, you can slowly select the behaviors that come closest to rolling over, with each new behavior bringing him closer to completely rolling over. Once you're able to get your dog onto his back, it's fairly simple to lure him over to his other side and into a sitting or standing position by holding the treat in front of his nose.

Wave:

What You Need:

To train a dog to wave, all you need is your dog and some yummy dog treats. You should also have your clicker handy if you are using clicker training.

Here's How to Do It:

1. Before you start training a dog to wave, he should first know how to shake paws. Waving is built from what he already knows how to do when he shakes. If he hasn't learned to shake yet, you should go back and work on this skill with your dog.
   
   
2. Give your dog the command "shake." When he lifts his paw to shake your hand, move your hand up slightly so he has to move his paw up a bit to get to your hand.

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2. When your dog moves his paw up farther than he would to shake, click your clicker or tell him "good," and give him a treat.
   
3. Repeat this action a few times, each time moving your hand up a little higher until your dog is raising his paw above his head.
   
4. Once your dog has been putting his paw up several times in a row, give the command "shake," and as soon as your dog starts reaching his paw out to you, give the command "wave" (or you can use the command "say hello" or "wave bye") and again follow steps 2-4.
5. Repeat this several times until your dog is consistenly raising his paw. After a number of repetitions, stop using the shake command, and only give the command "wave."
   
6. Most dogs quickly learn to raise their paw over their head on command. Once your dog is doing it consistently doing it on command, you can begin to select for the best waves. Begin to only give him treats when his paw is over his head and moving up and down a bit in a waving motion.
   

1. Capturing the Wave:
2. Practice the wave command for a few minutes at time, two or three times each day. Your dog will quickly be impressing your friends as he greets them with a wave hello!
   

If you are using a clicker to train a dog, you may be able to teach your dog to wave by capturing the behavior. Many dogs use their paws to get your attention. You can capture this behavior with your clicker, and use it to teach your dog to wave. Here's how to do it:

1. Keep your clicker and some treats handy, and the next time your dog paws at you, click your clicker and give him a treat.
   
2. Repeat this several times, each time your dog raises his paw to get your attention.
   
3. A dog who is used to clicker training, will soon begin offering behaviors to try to get a treat. Continue clicking and giving treats each time he raises his paw.
   
4. Next, add the command "wave." Say the command and wait. Each time your dog raises his paw, click and treat. Your dog will soon be offering the behavior more quickly after you give the command.
   
5. Once your dog is consistently waving on command, you can begin to only click and treat for the behaviors which look the most like a wave.
   
6. As in the above steps, practice the wave command several times each day for short training sessions.
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8. Spin

What You Need:

All you need to train a dog to spin is a handful of treats. If you are clicker training, you should also have a clicker on hand.

Here's How to Do It:

1. Start with your dog in a standing position. It may help to teach your dog to stand on command if you haven't already.
   

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   Once your dog is spinning on command, you can begin training him to learn directions. Here's how you train this dog trick:Hold a treat in front of your dog's nose, and give the command "spin."
   
2. Slowly pull the treat toward the side of your dog's head so he'll have to turn his head to follow it.
   
3. Keep pulling the treat around in a circle around your dog's body so he'll have to spin in order to keep track of the treat.
   
4. Once your dog has followed the treat in a complete circle, tell him "good" or click your clicker, and give him the treat.
   
5. Spend about 5 minutes several times a day practicing the spin. Your dog will be spinning in a complete circle before you know it.
   

Adding Direction:

1. Begin as you did in step 1 above with a treat in front of your dog's nose.
   
2. This time you are going to change the command to "right spin" or "left spin." Give the command, and pull the treat around your dog in the direction you want him to spin.
   
3. Practice in several short training sessions each day. Be sure to work on only one new command (right or left spin) at a time until your dog has a solid understanding of the difference in the two commands.
   

1. Once your dog knows how to spin both right and left on command, you can begin to change it up. Ask him to spin in different directions during one training session. Once your dog is able to consistently respond correctly to the command by spinning in the right direction, you'll know he has a good grasp of the difference between the two commands.

Roll Over

What You Need:

You will need a handful of treats and a soft area for your dog to practice rolling over.

Break It Down into Smaller Parts:

While it would be great if your dog rolled over all at once, most people find that their dog is not turning all the way around to follow the treat on the first try. Your dog may jump up, wiggle, or move his head around to the other side to try to get the treat.

With your dog lying down, hold a treat at your dog's nose and move it towards his shoulder. The moment he turns his head, click or praise him and give him a treat. Practice this several times until he's consistently turning his head.If this is the case with your dog, you can break his training into smaller parts.

Next, stop giving your dog a treat for every head turn. Give treats only for the head turns that bring him closest to lying on his side. Next, only give your dog praise and a treat when he's lying on his side completely. In this way, you can slowly select the behaviors that come closest to rolling over, with each new behavior bringing him closer to completely rolling over. Once you're able to get your dog onto his back, it's fairly simple to lure him over to his other side and into a sitting or standing position by holding the treat in front of his nose.