Categories
Tips & Tricks Training

What is the best way to get my puppy to stop biting?

Probably one of the most common questions that new dog owners ask us in our chat at the moment. The small pointed puppy teeth not only look cute but can also hurt quite a bit and abuse many a pair of favorite shoes rudely as a chewing bone. But don’t worry, we at Pupy will save your hands and shoes and explain step by step how your dog learns the so-called bite inhibition, and tell you the top 4 chewing alternatives to shoes and wooden tables!

Bite inhibition in play

Surely you have noticed that your dog uses his teeth in play instead of his hands. First of all, there is nothing against it. Your dog does not want to bite you viciously and usually does not have rabies when he goes over the top in the game. On the contrary, for him, the whole thing still means fun, even if the pointed milk tooth just scalps your thumb. However, since we humans really don’t have thick fur and definitely have more sensitive skin than dogs, we have to show our new family members the intensity with which they can play with us.

If you observe puppies and dogs with each other you can quickly see that they also stop each other in their eagerness by interrupting the game with a stop signal. Usually, this happens super quickly, you’ll hear a short howl, then maybe a threatening baring of teeth or brief bumping or snapping at the air. The dogs interrupt the game, sometimes briefly shaking off their stress or placating each other. Then it usually continues with the game, as if nothing had happened. As dog owners, you can imitate this behavior to some extent.

Of course, they should not now practice in front of the mirror to bare their teeth. No. What you should imitate is the short sound of pain, e.g. with an “ouch” and the interruption of the play sequence. So if your puppy has gone over the top, first make pain sound e.g. “ouch”, then interrupt the game and turn away from your puppy. Very important: Your puppy is not pushed to the ground or otherwise physically punished here. It is enough to turn away from your puppy, stand up and let him think for a moment why the game ended so abruptly. After 2-3 minutes you or your puppy can start the game again. Unlike us humans, dogs don’t hold grudges and we should learn that from them too!

Calf biting and dull 4 minutes

Another common problem in puppyhood is the “Dolle 5 minutes.” Your puppy will run around the apartment like crazy, biting curtains, the sofa, and sometimes your feet or calves. Unfortunately, getting very excited has the opposite effect. Because if you get excited, this mood can be transferred to your dog very quickly. It is better if you meet your dog in such a situation with calmness. Catch him at a moment when he comes towards you, leash him if necessary and take him to his basket or dog box. Have sent him to his place, a chewing bone or very slow petting can help to calm your dog. In general, a short house leash that you attach to your dog’s harness (1 meter and without a loop) is recommended for the first time. This way you avoid an unintentional game of tag while your dog is getting excited. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that short racing sessions without anyone or anything getting to feel your puppy’s teeth are also perfectly fine and should not always be prevented.

Of shoe biters and furniture lovers

Beloved clothing and pieces of interior decor can also fall victim to your teething puppy. The key here is to create an alternative. Offer your dog plenty of opportunities to chew during teething, and it’s better to leave your favorite shoes by the front door or in the shoe closet during this time.

5 suitable chewing items during the change of teeth:

Categories
Tips & Tricks Training

How do I train my dog not to bark?

Barking is part of the normal behavior of a dog.

Dogs bark in a variety of situations, whether it is when the doorbell rings, the mailman, the mail in the mailbox throws or your dog wants to make you aware that it is time for his food.

Barking is a natural sound expression in dogs and is used for communication. Therefore, you can breathe easily for now, because just because your dog barks does not mean that there is a behavior problem. Of course, some dogs can become conspicuous in their barking, but most everyday situations in which we find the barking annoying can be solved with simple educational methods.

Why does your dog bark?

Depending on the situation, your dog may have different reasons why he barks. For example, the classic barking at the garden fence serves the purpose of barking at a potential intruder. Bypassing the passers-by at the garden gate, your dog has a small sense of achievement every time, because no one has dared to enter the sacred garden. Your dog thus shows the barking more often, because it was worth it. You may also have heard your dog bark when he has asked another dog to play. The point here is to get the attention of the other play partner. This barking usually occurs in combination with the classic upper body down position or play bow.

Excitement barking, on the other hand, has the purpose of relieving stress and getting rid of pent-up energy. You can observe this barking, for example, when the doorbell rings or you enter your apartment after work, while your dog has been waiting for you.

Not all barking should be interrupted with a stop signal.

Excitement barking, as already mentioned, serves to reduce stress and should therefore not be simply stopped or punished. If we stop barking by punishing or stopping it, your dog will have no way to get rid of his stress and will eventually try to bark more intensely or even bump into you.

If your dog barks, for example, when visitors come or when greeting you, it is better to offer him an alternative to barking. For example, you can offer your dog a toy or a chewing bone while you greet him with calm words, petting him quietly. Being able to chew on an object ensures that your dog can relieve stress through the chewing motion, at the same time your dog will find it harder to bark with a toy or bone between his teeth.

Do not ignore the barking!

Ignoring your dog’s barking makes as little sense as ranting wildly at it. Ignoring does not change behavior because it does not show your dog how to change his behavior, nor is it a consequence of his behavior. Additionally, dogs, like us humans, need to greet their social partner after separation, this is an expression of a good relationship and is also shown among dogs. However, the greeting should not be too intense, it is quite enough if you squat next to the dog on the floor, stroke him briefly, and possibly give him his toy or chew bone.

Use conditioning to put an end to bell barking.

For many dogs, the bell, in particular, is the starting sound for loud barking. To put an end to this, you can teach your dog to go to his resting place at the signal of the bell. On the one hand, this has the advantage that your visitor is not immediately received stormily by your dog, but helps your dog to keep his excitement level low.

Here’s how it works:

  • Press the bell (it’s best to ask a friend to do this).
  • Send your dog to his basket after the bell sounds.
  • Reward your dog in the basket, e.g. a treat or a chew bone.
  • Repeat the command

Important: Your dog must already know the command “basket” or “blanket”. You can find instructions in our app!

We hope these tips will help you and your dog!

Categories
Training

Dog training – 7 steps to achieve your goals

Have you ever wondered why there are dogs that learn super-fast, seem to make steady progress in training, and never seem to make problems for their owners? While other dog owners seem to have completely lost control of their dog and slip from one problem to the next?

The reason for these two types of human-dog teams is not only the previous history of the dog, which may have come from a bad home or lived on the street. The dog owner’s experience doesn’t always play a role either. The most common reason that dog owners slip into a downward spiral with their dogs quite easily is that they don’t know how to do anything about the situation.

Perhaps you have also attended a dog school or taken a one-on-one lesson with a good dog trainer. You also made small progress in the first few weeks, but then fell back into old patterns and behaviors. Don’t worry, you’re like most dog owners! Without a long-term plan, 99.9% of dog owners completely stop training with their dog because they don’t think the training is on target.

I know it can be super frustrating when you don’t reach your goals even though you seem to have given it your all, so today I want to show you a system that ALWAYS works in dog training, as well as in life.

Step out of the downward spiral with 7 steps:

Step 1 – Define your exact goal

Step 2 – Find out your status quo

Step 3 – Plan the route to your goal

Step 4 – Set milestones

Step 5 – Get started!

Step 6 – Review and adjust your route

Step 7 – Keep going

Most dog owners now wonder why there are so many human-dog teams that have problems when it is supposed to be so easy. The important thing is to understand exactly what each step means and then follow through. Realize that there is NO shortcut on this path.

Step 1 – Define your exact goal.

You need to know exactly where you want to go to achieve your goal.

Let’s say you want to go on vacation to Austria and you plan to drive there, how do you go about it? You probably don’t just type Austria into the navigation system and drive off, do you? You rather look for a hotel or a vacation apartment, plan what you want to experience there, and have a pretty exact picture in mind of how the vacation should be. Then you enter the exact address into your navigation system and drive to your destination.

It is not enough to simply type Austria into the navigation system to reach your vacation destination. Just as it is not enough to say:

“I want my dog not to pull on the leash “ or *”I want my dog to listen to me better”.

These are not training goals!

You must have your goal crystal clear before you plan training with your dog. Otherwise, even the best training concept will not help you

Step 2 – Figure out your status quo

If you know where you want to go, you also have to find out where you are starting from. Also, your sat nav calculates for the route, from your current location to the destination. This is exactly what you need to do in dog training.

Determine your status quo with your dog.

This includes, for example, behavioral problems, that your dog shows and management measures, how you have dealt with them so far. You should also test how good your dog’s basic training is and how strong your human-dog bond is.

Then write down your status quo on each area and start planning your route.

Step 3 – Plan the route to your destination

Now the time has finally come. You know exactly what you want to accomplish with your dog and where you are right now. Now there are several ways to plan the route to your common goal.

  1. create a plan for yourself and just try it out.
  2. find a role model or coach who is already where you want to be.

When you design a plan for yourself, you need to be very structured and, most importantly, reflective in your approach to training. Especially as a new dog owner with no previous experience, this road is often rocky and marked by many detours. Nevertheless, you will learn a lot on this path and therefore I have listed it here.

The second way, on the other hand, is usually easier, as long as you choose your role model or trainer wisely. Follow proven methods instead of reinventing the wheel.

In our app, you’ll find over 200 videos that give you expert guidance. If our videos don’t help you with your problem, you can contact our certified dog trainers via the chat feature and we’ll help you plan your route.

Step 4 – Set milestones

To keep your motivation and your dog’s motivation high during your journey to your destination, you should come up with stage goals. In dog training, I recommend you set small weekly goals and slightly larger monthly goals.

Example:

If my end goal is for my dog to walk attentively beside me on a loose leash, then my stage goals might look like this:

Weekly Goal 1: The goal is for the first step out of the front door to be on a loose leash with my dog looking at me.

Monthly Goal: The goal is for my dog to walk the 200 yards to our house on a loose leash. If the leash tightens, he should regulate his own pace until the leash is loose again.

To check your stage goal, you should set aside one “check day” per week and one per month. This way you can check if you are ready for the next step or if you still need to work further on your stage goal.

Step 5 – Finally start

In dog training, as in life, there is never the one right moment to finally get started. We humans can usually think of 1000 excuses why it’s not the right time yet, or we’re waiting for that one new leash or clicker we’re still missing to finally get started. The fact is, to train with your dog, you hardly need anything except a leash and a collar, so grab your pelt nose and get started!

Step 6 – Review and adjust your route

After you’ve been training for about 2 weeks, you should check how far you’ve come towards your goal and where there are still difficulties. If you don’t make any progress at all with one method, it’s not a big deal to choose another approach instead and continue with that.

For all Pupy Pro users, there is the possibility to get support from certified dog trainers in our chat. So if you get stuck at any point in the training, we will help you find a solution and an alternative training approach if necessary.

Step 7 – Keep going

Dogs learn best in those moments when they are not doing what we would like them to do.

Everyone knows the situation where training is going great for a few weeks and suddenly day XY comes and he acts like he doesn’t know a single command anymore. Most dog owners hate such days and feel almost betrayed by their dogs.

Meanwhile, I have to confess that I love such “character days”! The reason is that days when my dog doesn’t want to listen, are the days when I can show my dog that our agreed-upon rules still apply. Once my dog understands that he learns more on that “character day” than in all the training sessions we’ve had together.

The important thing is that we take advantage of days like this and stay consistent instead of making a “one-time exception”. Exceptions ALWAYS set us back in training because your dog has succeeded with undesirable behavior and we also confirm it quite unconsciously through our “exception”.

So my tip is to wait for those “character days” and welcome them warmly. Because if you are aware that these days bring the greatest learning success, then it is the easiest to do without “exceptions”, even if it is exhausting!

Categories
Training

When is the best time to start dog training?

Did you just give a dog a new home and are now asking yourself when is the best time to start dog training? At Pupy, we want to help you prepare your little friend in the best possible way for his new life by your side, so you can experience all the wonderful moments untroubled as a human-dog team.

One of the first questions new dog owners ask is: When do I start dog training?

You must realize that training and raising your dog are two different things.

Raising your dog

Raising your dog is about getting him used to the world by your side, teaching him the most important rules for living together, discovering his environment, and learning how to interact with other members of his species. In the phase of raising your dog, the most important thing is to build a quality relationship and bond with your dog and lay the foundation for your human-dog team.

Training your dog

Dog training is about teaching your dog certain behaviors through commands and other signals. Training together strengthens your bond and provides physical and mental activity for you and your dog. There are many different methods and approaches. You must find the training approach for you and your dog that you both enjoy.

When is the best time to start raising my dog and when to start training?

This depends a bit on whether you have just adopted a puppy or a little older dog, e.g. from a shelter.

Puppies and young dogs

With your puppy you can already begin on the first day playfully with the first small education lessons e.g. in which you discover together the house and the garden, play together and your small friend may learn thereby, with which intensity he may play with you. Also the housetraining starts from day 1, when you go out with your little one in regular intervals (every 1,5 – 2 hours) to the garden. After 2-3 days of this acclimation period, you can begin contact with other dogs in a puppy group or with friendly neighbor dogs. Again, your dog must learn how to behave towards other dogs. If the play gets too wild, break it up and take your puppy to you. If, on the other hand, your puppy is looking for protection, you offer it to him, thus paying into your relationship account right away. Over time, you can begin to incorporate small training lessons for everyday life. This includes sit and down but also small tricks that are fun for both of you and train your dog’s motor skills e.g. the trick twist.

Animal shelter dog

With a dog from the shelter or animal protection, you start a little differently. Here you should first clarify what history your dog brings with it. If you don’t know, it helps to watch him closely for the first few days. If you then notice that he is insecure in certain situations, you start exactly there with the training. During the first few days, build trust with your new dog by playing together, exploring the neighborhood, and establishing daily routines. Then guide your dog as a safe anchor in distress through situations in which he shows insecurity. You can learn exactly how to do this in our app under the category “Puppy Training.”

Tip

Every training and educational activity gives your dog structure and security. Growing together as a team starts from the first time you meet. Download the Pupy App now and lay the foundation for your strong human-dog team!

Categories
Training

Avoid these 3 dog training mistakes

Many problems in dog training arise from small mistakes and inconsistencies. Often it is not because there is not enough training, but more because these mistakes are not communicated in the dog training. We at Pupy would like to introduce you to the top 3 mistakes in dog training and explain how you can avoid them in the future.

Mistake #1: Mistakes in communication.

Dogs are not humans, so we have to learn to understand and use their language. Unlike the talkative human, dogs communicate non-verbally, that is, through body language. The mistake many dog owners make is that while they give the correct verbal signal to their dog, their body language is the opposite. For example, we tell our dog to follow us, but we turn our body not in the direction we want to go, but in the direction our dog is pulling. Or we tell our dog not to jump on us when we greet him, but we reinforce it with body language by leaning down and petting him.

Tip: Learn your dog’s language before teaching him your own.

Mistake #2: Missing consistency

Changing the rules over and over again is something neither dog nor human understands. But especially in families or among couples it comes more often to so-called “exceptions” e.g. “Oh, it is Christmas. Today he is allowed to eat something from the table!”, “Today is Sunday, he is allowed to pull me to his favorite place” and so on. Unfortunately, dogs do not understand that these are “only” exceptions. Because if a certain behavior becomes a success in a certain situation, it will be shown again and sometimes even stronger in the same or similar situation. This means that even the day after Christmas, for example, your dog will stand begging next to the table and drooling on your new jeans or even during the week, pulling you to his favorite place. The difference is that you now want to correct or punish your dog for this behavior. However, this is unfair because your dog cannot understand “exceptions”. Such situations can unsettle your dog and he will constantly question your rules and test them. On the other hand, if you remain consistent and ALWAYS enforce your rules, your dog will see you as a reliable partner he can trust.

Mistake #3: Missing generalization.

“Yesterday the recall worked, why isn’t it working today?” – sound familiar to you? Maybe you have heard of the term “place learners”. These are dogs that listen to every word in the dog school, walk on the leash in an exemplary manner, can be recalled from any situation in the dog school and as soon as they leave the gate of the dog school, they don’t even react to their name. What is the reason for this? Dogs learn for the most part locally and situationally. This means that a newly learned behavior, such as recall, must be trained in many different environments and with many different distractions to be reliable. Your dog forms certain links in his brain as he learns, which you can think of as a road network. For your dog to respond to your signal in any situation, it is important to create as many connections as possible so that your dog can respond quickly and reliably. Only after this generalization has taken place is a behavior fully learned. However, it is important that even after generalization, this new behavior is trained at irregular intervals and also rewarded from time to time.

With the Pupy app, you can easily learn to avoid these 3 mistakes in the future. Download the app now for free and start training today!

Categories
Tips & Tricks Training

4 Tips for Dog Encounters

Meeting another dog on a walk is nothing unusual as a dog owner and should actually not be a problem if both human-dog teams abide by certain rules. Nevertheless, there are always situations that worry us, dog owners, when another human-dog team appears on the horizon. It doesn’t matter if it’s the fear that the other dog will attack our own or the uncertainty whether our own dog will behave. A negative feeling here can also be transferred to your dog. To prevent this, we have 4 tips for you that will help you to react more confidently and calmly in dog encounters in the future.

1. Respect leashed dogs.

The most important rule for all dog owners: If you meet a leashed dog or a dog you do not know, then you also leash your dog and keep a sufficient distance during the encounter. If the other dog is not on a leash but your dog is, ask the other dog owner to leash their dog. Always try to remain friendly and objective in such a situation, even if not every dog owner will understand why they should now leash their dog.

What you can do if the other dog owner does not want to put his dog on a leash

Take three deep breaths and remain calm and friendly. Ask the other dog owner again to leash their dog and give them a valid reason why it is safer for their dog to be leashed. For example, say that your dog has a contagious disease, they bite other dogs that get too close, they have a flea infestation or is currently in the standing heat and you want to save them from unplanned offspring. Really remember to stay friendly and always turn the situation around so that you are not protecting your own dog but the other person’s dog. This will save you a heated discussion and keep everyone focused on their own dog.

2. Keep your distance on the leash.

Who hasn’t heard the phrase: “He just wants to say hello”? Just a quick “hello” can lead to chaos, injuries, and biting, especially on the leash, and by the way, you put your dog in the expectation that as soon as another dog comes towards you, they may rush to the other dog. It is therefore advisable to keep a distance from the leash. This way your dog learns that they do not have to expect to be allowed to play with another dog on the leash and at the same time you are spared the unpopular knot in the leash with another dog.

What you can do if your dog tends to bark on the leash:

In dog encounters, take your dog to the side away from the other human-dog team. In this way, you create the necessary distance between you and the other human-dog team and at the same time give your own dog more space to avoid. In such a situation, you mustn’t pull your leash tight, but let it hang loosely. This way your dog will not feel constricted and will not associate a tight leash with meeting other dogs.

3. They do NOT settle this between themselves!

If both dogs get along with each other or if the dogs meet without a leash, you must always keep an eye on the dogs and their “game”. The sentence “They’ll settle it between themselves!” already fails because a 2 kg Chihuahua could hardly defend itself against the weight and mass of a Newfoundland. Apart from the size, a game can escalate quickly. At the latest when the game becomes too one-sided, one dog is always on the ground or is chased and moped by the other, it is time to end the “game”.

4. Give your dog protection when he needs it.

Whether your dog is running free or on a leash, if your dog is looking for protection near you or between your legs, you should give it to them. The easiest way to give your dog protection is to shield them from other dogs, but at the same time allow your dog to avoid them. Small dogs, in particular, like to be picked up, but it is better to shield them between the legs in a crouching position, so your dog still has the opportunity to move forwards or backward to escape the situation. The same applies to larger dogs: enable protection, but do not force protection. Your dog should be allowed to decide for themself how long they need the protection of their owner and when your dog dares to leave the “hiding place” again. By the way, it should go without saying that if the situation does not calm down, you should leave the situation with your dog and either change direction or go home immediately.

We hope these tips will help you and your dog on your next walk. If you want to know how to guide your dog safely and calmly through a dog encounter, download the Pupy app for free now and start training today.

Categories
Tips & Tricks Training

5 tips for walking on a lax leash

Do you also dream of a relaxing walk with your dog? Walks are supposed to be relaxing for the dog and owner, but when the dog rushes through the front door with a tight leash, the relaxation is often gone. The good thing is that there is another way! We at Pupy have 5 tips for you to help you bring more relaxation and peace into your walk as soon as you leave the front door.

1. Leashing

This is usually where the first stress arises for the dog and owner. To prevent this from happening, you can combine every leashing, whether at home or out and about, with a ritual. Give your dog a familiar command, e.g. sit or down, before you put the collar and leash on. You can then reward your dog with a treat or verbal praise. The ritual must take place calmly. If your dog is generally restless before the walk, you can use a calming ritual or a conditioned relaxation signal.

2. the safe haven

Some dogs pull on the leash to avoid an uncomfortable or threatening situation. Pay attention to your dog’s body language and keep your dog on a leash during dog encounters, always on the side away from the other dog. You can also reassure your dog in scary situations by putting your dog between your legs or standing in front of them.

3. casual and training mode

It’s not easy for any dog owner to always stay in training mode and work on leash handling. That’s why it’s a good idea to introduce a ritual that signals to your dog that the dog is now allowed to pull a little, or that a little tension on the leash is okay. To do this, you can put a harness on your dog and switch from the collar to the harness. Harnesses are designed to allow a dog to pull something, e.g. a sled or other load. Of course, there are rules here too, because you shouldn’t let your dog pull you around either. The harness should only allow you to be a little more inconsistent when you don’t have time or don’t feel like training – it’s your casual mode!

4. mood and posture

The leash is a positive thing and you should treat it as such. Dogs can perceive and mirror our emotional world through mood transmission. Therefore, it is extremely important to remain relaxed and calm when walking our dog. If you pull on the leash during a dog encounter, your dog may take this as a sign to start moving forward.

5. patience

Dogs are not born to walk beside their humans. Especially in the first year of life, there are so many new things for our dogs to discover. Therefore, any obedience training requires your patience. It is not about reaching the goal as quickly as possible, but about building a harmonious relationship with your dog in the long term. So practice patience and don’t be disappointed if things slow down during training. Sometimes it helps to take a short break so that you can relax and continue with the training again!

You can use our Pupy app to remind you of your training sessions. Daily tips and other expert articles will help you and your dog achieve your goals in the long run. Download the Pupy App today and start your first training session right now!

Categories
Tips & Tricks Training

What is Trickdogging?

A dog that can moonwalk, skateboard or do a handstand? These are all tricks that trick doggers engage in, among other things. Trickdogging is about teaching your dog various tricks, for example doing a manikin or a roll up to cleaning out he laundry and bringing in socks. After all, who hasn’t dreamed of their dog running the household and having fun at the same time? Regardless of whether the tricks are only practised in private or if the goal is perhaps to appear on a big stage or on television one day, trick dogging offers both dog and human many advantages.

Above all, it promotes bonding and trust. The dog’s self-confidence also increases and the dog becomes more balanced and attentive. At the same time, a dog that has been exercised to the full is usually much better behaved. Working for food or toys is a good way to reward your dog, it keeps the dog happy and can prevent behavioural problems. But apart from that, it is simply a lot of fun for both dog and human, and that is the main focus of trickdogging at all times.

Every dog can learn tricks

Trickdogging is suitable for any dog, can be done anywhere and apart from treats you don’t need anything else, although a clicker can be very helpful.

The clicker tells the dog that his behaviour was correct and that he will get a reward for it. In this way, exact reinforcement is possible. To condition your dog to the clicker, have your dog sit in front of you. Then you click and immediately give your dog a treat. Repeat this several times. To check whether your dog has understood the principle, you can click when he is slightly distracted. If your dog looks at you after the click, he has understood the link. Instead of a clicker, you can also use a marker signal, a word that you say instead of the clicker sound.

Training through positive reinforcement

In trickdogging, training is done through operant conditioning with positive reinforcement. This means that for every correct behaviour you give a treat, everything else is ignored. It is important that you build up each trick in small steps and only increase the demands when your dog can do the step safely.

Getting the desired behaviour

There are several ways to get your dog to perform a certain behaviour, which I would like to explain briefly. Capturing is when you capture spontaneous behaviour and reward it, for example when your dog shakes. With shaping, you reward the preliminary stages of the finished behaviour and thus keep moving forward. A special form of shaping is the so-called free shaping. The dog is not given any instructions on what to do and tries to get closer to the target behaviour by offering it. For example, if I want my dog to touch an object with a paw, I first reward every movement in the direction of the object, then movements with the paw towards the object and then the touching. The use of a clicker is particularly recommended here. Another variation is luring, but you have to be careful that the lure is released early enough. Furthermore, you can build up behaviour with targets or with the imitation method “Do As I Do” by Claudia Fugazza.

Attention!

During training it can always happen that your dog does not immediately understand what you want from him. The following behaviours show that your dog is overwhelmed: ears flattened, ears turned back, yawning, licking over the nose, stretching and stretching or shaking.

If you observe one or more of these behaviours, you should take a step back in the training, reduce the distraction, take a break, practice another trick or control the exercise set-up.

Designing the exercise

As a beginner, you should only practice with your dog for a few minutes at a time. If you are a bit more experienced, the training sessions can be longer, but should not exceed 20-30 minutes. Ideally, you should end the session before your dog loses interest.

Training tricks in different life situations

Adult, healthy dogs can practise and perform all tricks that are appropriate to their level of ability and physical condition. Very big and heavy dogs and dogs with long backs should not jump for example.

You can also start trick training with puppies, but no jumps or tricks that put a lot of strain on the musculoskeletal system should be practised. The puppy period is suitable for learning the basics, not only of the dog ABC, but also of trick training. Conditioning on the clicker, target training and introduction to free shaping or Do As I Do are also suitable for puppies. For senior dogs, if in doubt, the tricks should be discussed with the vet or physiotherapist. In general, older dogs can do all the tricks they like to do as well as tricks that are not very physically demanding or have a risk of injury. Paw tricks, looking for and bringing objects, slalom through legs or rolling out carpet are also fun for older dogs.

The first tricks

These tricks are especially good for the beginning.

  • Give paw
  • Twist
  • Slalom through the legs

If you’ve got trick fever now, then…

… download Pupy App and start with the first trick right away, order our book: “Hundetricks mit Nala: Vom Straßenhund zum Fernsehstar” by Frederike Spyrka