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Care & Training Q&As / I Want To Teach My Havanese/poodle (he Looks Like A Maltese :o)) Some Tricks, But I Don’t Know Which And How
I Want To Teach My Havanese/poodle (he Looks Like A Maltese :o)) Some Tricks, But I Don’t Know Which And How
Any suggestions? He’s 3 years old, is it too late?
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Your dog is capable of learning new tricks for many years to come. I agree that basic obedience commands are a great place to start, but you can work on any trick that you like as long as it is something that your dog is physically capable of.
The best way to teach your dog a new trick is to first figure out a reward system that works for him. Some dogs like dried liver, or little bits of hot dogs, or cheerios, or a tug toy, or a scratch under the ears. Pay attention to what your dog really likes and use those things as a reward.
Let’s use “sit” as an example. Gently show your dog what you want him to do (gently place him in a sit position) then immediately say “good sit!” and reward him. It will take several repetitions before he realizes that the term “sit” means that he should place his butt on the floor. Also, if you catch him doing the behavior on his own, you can take advantage of the situation and tell him, “good sit!” and give him a reward. This helps him to learn the term.
Be patient, you can’t expect him to do what you ask him to if he does not understand the term.
In the beginning, use the reward every time. After your dog knows the term, you can start being variable with the reward. When he sits after being asked too, sometimes you can give him a food reward, but you don’t always have to. However, you should continue verbal praise every time he does something that you ask.
Suggestions to teach your dog: sit, down (lie down), off (get off a couch or stop jumping on people), stay, come, shake (like shaking hands), play dead, roll over, turn in a circle. You may want to teach him to jump through a hoop, but make sure you start with the hoop on the ground, so that he just walks through it, and gradually raise it to a reasonable level that he can jump through without getting hurt.
well i would start with sit, because that is most commin and when you get done with the you can move on to something harder!!
Good Luck!