The 7 Easiest Tricks to Teach a Dog

Written and verified by the psychologist Sara González Juárez

Last update: 30 November, 2023

Who doesn’t like to practice tricks with their dog? That moment when you finally understand each other, your dog gets the prize that makes it so happy, and you have a good time together. And, as long as it’s a game, you’ll find nothing but benefits for your canine companion and for you. That’s why, in this space, we’ll bring you seven of the easiest tricks to teach your dog, as well as their procedure.

Remember that punishment is never an option and that tricks are worthless if they’re not part of the enrichment of your dog’s life. And, of course, yours. So, let’s get on with it!

Is it good to teach tricks to your dog?

Teaching tricks to a dog isn’t just about the satisfaction of having an animal obey you. In fact, the benefits that stand out from this practice are focused on the emotional and psychological well-being of the dog. Among them, some stand out:

• Reduces stress
• Helps with socialization
• Improves the bond between human and dog

However, this activity, as mentioned above, must be an entertainment that the dog enjoys. When you spend time with your dog in this way, there’s no room for the following:

• Punishment
• Frustration
• Excessive demands

That’s why you should stop when you detect that exercise is a source of discomfort for your dog.

Does the age of the dog influence its learning capacity?

The truth is that puppies -being in a vital period where their brain is developing- have a greater brain plasticity that allows them to learn more easily than an adult. However, this doesn’t mean that adult dogs aren’t capable of learning. However, they’ll need shorter and more frequent sessions in order to consolidate conditioning.

With age, dogs show slower learning and less mental flexibility, as was discovered in a study published in the journal AGE in 2016. Be patient and give lots of love if you want to teach tricks to an adult dog.

7 of the easiest tricks to teach your canine

According to a paper disclosed in PLoS One, in general, three types of paradigms can be distinguished when training a dog:

• Mixed methods
• Aversive methods
• Reward methods

Reward methods, also known as positive reinforcement, are by far the best to achieve a healthy dynamic throughout the process.

An article published in Society & Animals argues that reward methods for training a dog should consider the emotional and cognitive abilities of pets. We’ve chosen this paradigm when laying out the following easy tricks to teach your dog.

1. Sit

This command is one of the easiest to train, as it rewards a natural behavior of the dog. To get your dog to sit, you should start by showing it a treat above its head.

When you move your hand forward, the dog will sit so it can lift it’s head up better. Then, you’ll proceed to reward your pet and say the word you’ve chosen (“sit”, for example). After a few trials, the dog will sit when you say the word.

2. Lie down

This trick is easier for the dog to learn if it already knows how to sit when you ask it to. In this position, place the treat on its nose and lower it to the floor so that the dog has to lie down and support its head. As with the other exercises, saying the command out loud and giving it the reinforcement will make your pet eventually lie down on its own.

3. Roll over

This is one of the most fun and easiest tricks a dog can do. First, it must know how to lie down when you ask it to. Otherwise, it’ll be more complicated. From this position, guide your dog with a treat so that it lies on its side and, little by little, completes the full roll. When your pet succeeds, reward it and say the word that you’ve chosen as a command.

4. Turn around

This trick is fun and eye-catching. To do it, hold a treat close to your pet’s nose and make it follow it so that, drawing a circle with your hand, your dog turns around in a circle. When it completes the turn, pronounce the chosen command and let the animal eat the treat.

5. Shake

This classic is another one of the easiest tricks to teach your dog, as getting your attention with the paw is a natural dog behavior that you can take advantage of. If your canine companion has this habit, you’ll only have to reinforce it and associate it with a specific word, as in the previous cases.

If, on the other hand, you want your dog to learn it from scratch, the method consists of getting it to associate the command with raising its paw. To do this, lift it yourself, and with practice, the canine will associate this physical contact with the reward and will do it by itself.

6. Fetching with the sense of smell

This exercise, besides being fun, is one of the best ways to enrich the sensory and social life of your dog. The first step is to get the animal to pick up an object and bring it to you. To do this, you can throw it during a play session and offer a reward when your dog brings the object back.

In fact, if you give your dog a treat or praise when it drops the object, you can teach it to exchange items with you, which is a beneficial exercise to get unwanted objects out of its mouth.

Once you’ve achieved this first step, the next step is to associate it with the specific command – “fetch,” for example- and gradually lengthen the distance. Eventually, you’ll be able to ask your dog to fetch specific objects and bring them to play with you.

7. Flip switches

Finally, you can also teach your dog to turn the lights on and off. As switches only need one touch to work, place the treat on one of them for the dog to push with its nose or paw. As always, state the magic word and reward your dog until it associates the word with the act.

Useful and simple tricks

As you can see, the easiest tricks to teach your dog are achieved through positive reinforcement. Don’t hesitate to spend time with your furry friend and create good memories, as dogs are intelligent and sensitive animals that are worth caring for.