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Training tricks is a great way to enhance your relationship with your dog while exercising
them mentally and physically with brain games and in some cases physical challenges, and
it really helps to improve your skills as your dog's trainer all while having fun. When
you get started with tricks training you want to choose something that's going to be manageable
for you to train, as well as for your dog to learn.
The best tricks to usually start with are what I would call "single-action tricks",
meaning that the dog has to do one single action and/or tricks that come naturally to
your dog. Before you get started, you're going to need some tools, however, because remember
you're your dog's trainer and teacher, and so you need to be prepared and have some skills
of your own.
You're going to want to have rewards for your dog when they get things correctly, and so
you'll want to cut treats up into tiny, little pieces, especially if you have a little dog
because you're going to want to be able to give them a lot of information for when they
get things right. So cutting your food up into tiny, little pieces to use as rewards,
and then having that stored somewhere like a hands-free treat pouch. Or if you have a
sweatshirt, you can put the baggie in there.
But you want to have your training treats all cut up and prepared for you. Then you
also need a way of communicating to your dog that they did something correctly. I like
to use a clicker. That's what it sounds like because it's a very precise marker. When I
say the word "marker" I mean it marks the moment in time that your dog did something
right and communicates with them that that's what they're getting the treat for.
If you don't like the clicker, and a lot of people do feel uncomfortable with it, you
can always use a verbal marker like the word "good" or "yes" when your dog gets something
correct. So your skills as your dog's trainer would be to see or see it, and then to mark
it and then to reward it. What I mean by that is having good observational skills as to
what your dog is doing right, communicating with your marker that they got it right, and
then rewarding them appropriately.
If your dog loves toys, you can also reward with toys. In the case of Walter, he likes
food. We're going to be using food rewards for him.