We’ve never met a dog who didn’t know at least a couple of dog tricks. “Shake” is the one we’ve seen most often from our four-legged customers, but almost every dog has a little repertoire of behaviors they know and love to show off.

Granted, most dogs know we’re incredibly soft touches and they’ll be getting rewarded mightily for their performances – but that doesn’t lessen the joy they have doing them, or the joy we get seeing them!

Speaking of joy

And that’s what playing training games with our dogs gives us – joy every single day. Most days we only play for a few minutes before work, so that we can start our day with a smile.

And we’re not talking about the competition training stuff we do. We know that’s not everybody’s cup of tea. We know we’re weird and we’re okay with that. 

But everybody loves teaching their dogs tricks. And everybody’s dog loves learning them! Even if you have absolutely no experience in any kind of dog training, you and your dog probably figured it out together. And it works. 

Get a Trick Title! 

You don’t have to go anywhere, attend any classes. Now Trick Titles are winnable via video and internet! We know it may not be something that was on your radar before – but if you’re spending lots of time at home (like most of us) and you’re getting tired of television (like most of us) and going a little stir-crazy (like most of us), it’s something to think about.

Earlier this year, when we lived in a different world, Hope earned her certification as an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizenship Evaluator. Along with that, she can teach the Star Puppy Classes, and be an Evaluator for the Trick Dog Title. 

Stop saying “no!”

Before you get all “Oh, I can’t do that!” – yes, you can. As a matter of fact, your dog can probably already do almost enough of the tricks for the Novice Trick Dog title:

• Get in a box
• Sit in a box
• Balance beam (walk on a board a few inches off the floor)
• Bark on cue
• Crawl
• Fetch it (and bring it back)
• Find it 
• Get your ____
• High Five
• Jump
• Kennel up
• Kiss
• Push-ups
• Shake hands
• Touch it
• Tunnel

A dog has to complete just 10 tricks to get the title!

Something to do

Aren’t you just itching to try some tricks? You know your dog can do that stuff! Check out our video “fun with a box.” It’s really where all the fun training starts. Teaching your dog anything all boils down to learning to reward the good stuff and ignore the rest. Get a box. And get our Trick Training Log. We developed all kinds of training logs so you can keep track of where you are in your journey. 

And when you’re ready – get in touch! Hope will be absolutely delighted to evaluate those videos. If you’re not ready, get in touch for some help. We’ll be happy to guide you on this fun, new adventure!