Fun & Handy Tricks

Experienced dog owners and trainers often note that every dog needs a job. A dog with something meaningful to do rarely gets himself into trouble.

Hunting for clothespins is a task that is easy to teach, and gives your dog the opportunity to solve a problem and complete a significant job. Once the behavior is trained, it's something you can do every day without breaking a sweat or putting aside much time, yet your dog will work really hard and will finish the exercise happy and satisfied.

This is a fun exercise that is handier than it seems at first. You'll set up two targets at a distance, and teach your dog to go to either target—left or right—on cue. Later, you will set up similar exercises to bring more general meaning to the cues "left" or "right."

A dog that understands "left" and "right" has a terrific skill for many competition venues including agility, herding, mushing, water dog, and retrieving. This understanding would also be handy walking on trails—and service dog owners could think of a dozen or more applications for "left" and "right."

There is a popular term used on the Yahoo Training Levels group: "never ever" behaviors. This refers to seemingly impossible behaviors that the trainer thinks will "never ever" be trained. The funny thing is, they almost always end up being achieved!

Finding ways to keep an indoor cat entertained and active can be difficult. However, with a little creativity and a clicker, it's easy to come up with new and fun ways to enrich homebound animals.