Using "Tricks" To Focus Your Dog

Between privates and classes, I work with a variety of dogs with varied temperaments. Two of the most common problems I see are dogs that are impulsive and constantly pull on their leashes, and dogs that have "issues" with other dogs. There are two things these dogs have in common with each other: 1) Lack of impulse control and 2) Inability to focus on their handler. These two attributes also cause a problem with agility dogs, who are not locked in on their handler, and therefore take and run either the course of their choice or just take off and run.

So last week we started working on some tricks as a way to connect these dogs to their handlers. The tricks we started with were:

1) Touch - where the handler has a treat folded in to his hand, then offers that "fist" to the dog and says "touch". When the dogs bumps the hand with his nose, the hand opens and the dog gets the treat. Switch hands each time.

2) Spin left and right - Hold a treat in the right hand, with the dog in front of you. Use the treat to lure the dog around in a circle to the right. Switch to the treat in the left hand and use it to lure the dog in a circle to the left and feed. Repeat 2 times, alternately going left and right.

3) Sit-Down-Sit - Ask your dog to sit (dog sitting on left) with treat in your right hand. Bring treat hand down towards the ground, directly in front of dog, saying down. Use the same treat in hand, luring your dog back up into a sit the reward with treat. If the down is hard, reward in the down and also for coming back up into the sit. Repeat several times.

For very excitable dogs, teach  this in a very quiet place.