Teaching your dog a cool trick - Tips for kids

Yesterday we looked at how to stay safe when you are around animals, but today we are going to learn how to teach your dog a very cool trick.

Dogs are amazing, clever, lovable animals and if you treat them kindly, they will be your best friend for their whole life.  You will be able to spend hours with them, play with them, teach them things and take them on walks.

                           

image source

Before you start teaching your dog tricks you need to remember that you will have to be patient.  They are not just going to do it the first time.  You will have to repeat the same command over and over until they do it.  Make sure you do not loose your temper or start shouting at your dog, because that is not going to help, it will just confuse them more.

Do not just give up after the first day if your dog still do not know the trick, carry on and be calm and remember to reward your dog every time he tries to do the trick.  Just like humans, dogs also want to feel appreciated and rewarded if they did something good.

After your dog has mastered the 'sit and stay' command, you can teach him how to fetch a ball and bring it back to you.  This will take a while, some dogs do catch on quickly, but others want to keep the ball to themselves, but keep on calling your dog back after he has picked up the ball, let him sit and take the ball from him gently.  This can sometimes develop into a wrestling match but choose a word to say over and over so that your dog gets use to it and knows that if he hears that word, he must give you the ball.

After your dog gets the hang of bringing the ball back to you and dropping it to the ground, you can now start with your new cool trick..... teaching your dog to be a basketball 'player.'

                     

image source

Obviously your dog will never be a real basketball player, but you will be able to teach him to 'dunk' a ball.

Use a container like a box or a bucket and when your dog brings back the ball, show him to drop it into the container.  Once again you will have to do this over and over.  Use the same word you used when you taught him to give you the ball, but now hold the container on the ground and show him to drop the ball into it.

Every time he drops the ball into the container, remember his treat.

If the dog has now gotten the hang of it you can start lifting the container higher.  Eventually the dog will stand on his hind legs and 'dunk' the ball in the container,

If you have one of those little basketball hoops that little kids play with, you can also use that and it will really look like your dog is 'playing basketball'.

It does not matter what type of tricks you teach your dog, as long as you remember to be calm and patient and that it will take time, you will eventually have a very obedient dog that can do many tricks.

Remember we must always be kind to animals.  You will get more done by doing it with love than with hitting, shouting and kicking.

You can get more information here on different trick you can teach your dog and also watch the video.

Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone