5 Tricks You’ll Want to Show Off
Are you looking for inspiration on new tricks to teach your dog? If the answer is yes, then this is the e-book for you!
Continue to increase the distance between the treat and your dogs mouth, adding a more difficult challenge. As your dog catches the food, begin to toss food at him at more of an arc rather than dropping down words into his mouth.
Training your dog to catch food is one of the more simple tricks as long as your dog is open to doing it. If you’ve tossed food at your dog and it hit his face and bounced to the ground, giving him a free on-the-ground treat, he probably wont be very motivated to learn to catch food. On the other hand, if you toss food his way it, watch it bounce off of his face and hit the ground, but grab it before he can gobble it up, he may be more motivated to catch it in his mouth before you can get your hands on it. Not all dogs are natural at jumping up and catching food, so be prepared with some patience and dedication. Your dog may become bored with the idea of catching food if hes not a natural catcher and isnt rewarded for his efforts. Entice your dog with delicious treats and have fun with this one. Teaching your dog to catch food is easy with a little bit of repetition and dedication.
Once your dog has a good understanding of receiving the treat as its dropped into his mouth, begin to toss it at an arc, causing him to reach up and snatch it out of the air.
If your dog moves to grab the treat, give him verbal praise but dont let him have it unless he catches it. If he does not move toward it, pick it up and try again.
Repeat the above steps and increase the distance between the treat and your dog’s mouth. Once your dog has to lift his front paws off of the ground, begin to drop it into his mouth.
Puppy Gym
Puppies arrive on the planet with a mouth (and eyes) .. and that’s about the extent of their self-knowledge. Helping them discover where all their component parts are is an essential part of puppy-rearing. (This is why I feature “Puppy Gym” prominently in my puppy classes.) Learning that legs can move independently, that they can move sideways and backwards as well as forwards, that they can climb on and off things safely, and that they can land safely when they jump is key to their development.
And you can add teaching your dog to catch to this list.
Don’t start teaching catch too young with your pup. A very young pup (up to 10 weeks or so) doesn’t spot or focus on things very quickly. I’d wait till 16 weeks or thereabouts – and preferably once he knows lots of games featuring treat-rewards as well as chasing down toys.
To teach him eye-mouth co-ordination, make it easy for him by always tossing your treat with the same arm movement. I favour the downward toss- i.e. you hold up your hand near your shoulder, wave it a bit to get pup’s attention, then slowly bring it downwards and release the treat so it loops down to the pup. Aim for the top of his muzzle, right where the nose leather begins. The more accurate your throws the faster he’ll get it.
This is the entertaining bit! To begin with the treats will bounce off his muzzle and he’ll scramble to get them off the floor.
He’ll probably be more surprised than you and start hunting on the floor for it again, not realising it’s in his mouth!
You can make it a lot easier for him by using treats that are clear to see – so little cubes of cheese are good. With one particularly slow-to-catch-on adult dog I used popcorn (plain, of course). And while corn should not generally form part of a dog’s diet, an exception can occasionally be made to get what you want. The popcorn worked for that dog because it’s huge, white, and floats down slowly.
At this stage you could be feeding your dog’s whole dinner this way, one tossed piece of kibble at a time.
Once your dog can catch a flying treat aimed carefully at his mouth, you can start tossing them at different angles. An adult dog (especially a greedy one!) will become quite athletic getting his treats. Take care that he’s on a firm footing, not a slippery floor. And build up slowly towards jumping.
Now you’ve got the catch mastered, you can move up a gear and start teaching your dog to catch a frisbee.
Jake showing his catching prowess on his 14th Birthday!
Train ANY Dog How To Play Fetch PERFECTLY
This is an easy trick to teach, and your dog will love it as much as you do. When teaching your dog to catch things, its best to start by learning how to teach a dog to catch treats. Toys could hit your dog in the face, which may cause injury and make him scared of catching things in the future.
Some dogs struggle to learn this trick, but for most it will be very easy. It will be especially easy to train your dog to catch a treat if he is food motivated. Teaching him to catch treats is the first step in teaching him to catch other objects like frisbees, tennis balls or rubber dog toys.
Not at all dogs are naturals at jumping up and catching food, so be sure to have patience and be consistent. Have fun with this training. It will take a lot of repetition, but youll have a lot of laughs and plenty of fun in the process.