10 Great Tricks All Dogs’ Can Master

1. Kissing

With this little trick, you can teach your dog to give you a soft kiss on the cheek, and all you need is a clicker, some training treats, and a sticky note.

Watch the video below to see how to do this trick.

2. Give Paw

Give paw is a classic trick that you can easily teach your dog. You will need a clicker, and a specific word, such as “good” or “great”, and some treats.

How to Teach Your Dog to Give Paw

1. The first step is to take a handful of treats and close your fist.

Most dogs will try to grab it with their paw when they can’t do it with their mouth, so move your closed fist with the treats, down to your other hand that’s open.

When the dog touches your hand with its’ paw, use the clicker and/or your chosen word, such as “good”, and reward the dog with a treat. Repeat until the dog touches your open hand every time.

Når hunden rører din hånd med poten, skal du klikke eller sige dit ord, for eksempel ”dygtig” og belønne den med en godbid. Gentag, indtil din hund berører din hånd hver gang. 

2. When the dog touches your hand every time, change it so that your closed fist doesn’t have treats.

Show your dog the empty hand at your dog’s eye level, and when it touches your open hand with its’ paw, use the clicker and treat and praise it.

3. The next step is to have your dog touch your hand for a longer period.

Do what you did in the step above, but wait a bit longer before you click and reward.

4. Now you add a verbal command.

That command could be anything, perhaps “give paw” would fit well! You do this by first saying the command out loud, then showing the dog your hand, allowing it to touch your hand, then you click and reward.

3. Bark on Command

You can also teach your dog to bark and stop barking on command, but you should note that it usually takes a bit of patience, and might work better for some of the more easily trainable dog breeds.

4. Roll Around

Teach your dog to roll around with a good amount of treats!

How to Teach Your Dog to Roll Around

1. When you want to teach your dog to roll around, remember to go slow, and with a lot of patience.

Start by putting a treat in your hand, and move it to your dog’s nose, and then to the ground, ensuring your dog’s nose follows. Give the dog the treat when he lies down.

2. Take a new treat in your hand and move it to the dog’s nose again.

Now you gently push your dog’s nose with the treat, so it’s moved backward, and the weight of the dog shifts to one side. Give your dog the treat.

3. Take the third treat in your hand, and do the same trick as before.

Now lead the dog’s nose towards the same side as you pushed before, making the dog roll around. Reward it with some treats.

4. With a fourth and final treat, you push your dog’s nose further back.

This will shift its weight to the other side, and now it has rolled all the way round. Now give your dog the treat by placing it 5 inches away so it will have to roll all the way back to reach it.

Keep practicing until your dog has mastered this trick.

5. Fetch Stuff

It’s a lot of fun to have your dog fetch sticks and balls, and for some dogs, it comes quite naturally, while other dogs will have to learn it. All you need for this is some treats and a long training leash.

Watch the video below to see how to fetch perfectly.

6. Turn Around

Your dog can also learn how to turn around itself, and it’s really not that hard of a trick to master.

How to Teach Your Dog to Turn Around

1. You will need a handful of treats, and a clicker.

Grab all of the treats in one hand, and show only a single treat to lure your dog with.

2. Move your hand with the treats to the dog’s nose, and make your dog stand up.

It’s important that your dog stands up before turning, to ensure the trick is done correctly.

Now lure your dog in a circle by using the treat near its nose, use the clicker when it’s taken a round, and give it the treat.

Repeat this until the dog has mastered it, and remember to keep the treat at nose-level, so the dog doesn’t attempt to jump up and steal it. Make sure that you lure the dog the same way around every time, to avoid any confusion.

3. When the dog manages one round trip, make it do two.

Lure the dog with a treat as before, and then make it go another round before using the clicker and giving it the treat.

4. Now try doing it without a treat.

So drop any treats you might have in your hand, and make the dog go around in a circle as before. Then click and give it a treat. This will turn your hand into a signal that the dog should turn, and not just as bait. Repeat the exercise and remember to reward your dog with treats and a click.

5. Add a voice command.

The final part of this trick is adding a voice command such as “turn” or whatever you feel like. Speak your command word, and make the dog turn around as before. Eventually, the dog will learn to associate this command with the signal and movement. And as always, click and reward.

When you’re really good at this trick, the dog can do it without any treats at all.

7. Play Dead

If your dog has a bit of an actor hidden inside, it can learn how to play dead on command!

Watch the video below to see how to teach your dog to play dead.

8. Stand on Hind Legs

It looks extremely cute when you teach your dog to stand on its’ hind legs. This is how you do it.

How to Teach Your Dog to Stand on Hind Legs

1. The first step is teaching your dog to get up after a treat.

Take a treat and raise it above the dog’s head, so it starts stretching for it, then give it the treat.

Continue doing this, while you raise your hand higher and higher every time, making your dog really have to stretch for the treat, before finally really standing up on the paws.

2. For the next part of the trick, don’t have treats in your hand.

Instead, you should keep the treats in your other hand, so you can still give the dog treats afterward.

Use the same hand to lure the dog as you did before, and this time when the dog gets on its hind legs, then you move your hand with treats, towards the hand without, and take one of the treats without the dog noticing.

This is to ensure that the dog doesn’t start looking for the other hand where all your treats are hidden, but still continues to mostly notice your other hand that you only use as bait now.

Eventually, you don’t even have to hold your hand above the dog and can just do the signal a bit closer to your body, to make your dog associate the signal with this trick.

3. Now you want your dog to react to a verbal command.

Find a word you think is fitting for this trick, say it just before showing your signal, and have your dog do the trick.

With enough practice, the dog will react just from you saying the verbal command.

9. Sit

Your dog can most certainly learn how to sit with its paws up in the air, and not only does it look adorable, but it’ll also exercise your dog’s balance and core strength.

Watch the video below to see how to do this trick.

10. Hug

When your dog has perfectly managed how to properly sit, you can build upon that and add a hug to the exercise.