Does your dog do parlor tricks that impress kids?

[xellil]

When I move back to texas, I will be around my cousins' kids, all who are under 7 and all are terrified of dogs, especially big dogs. But my cousin told me they were walking one day and were impressed by a dog who could shake hands.

because of our first trainer, I was really turned off all the parlor tricks and never taught Rebel any. He used to do "paw" but no longer does.

What would be cool to impress 4,5,6, and 7 year olds? The only thing he does, that remotely resembles a parlor trick, is holding treats on his paws. He'll hold one on his nose but normally tilts his head a little so it falls off, so that's not so impressive.

Besides "paw," I know they thought that was cool so I'm re-teaching him that one.

I know if Rebel scares these kids one of my anal retentive cousins will never let them go around him. And just seeing a big dog will make them run and scream the other way. i know, I know - they sure weren't raised like my kid!

and also, is there a good book or website on teaching parlor tricks? I am trying to do the "paw" thing but he's not too impressed. He raises his foot about 1/4 inch off the floor and then looks at me like "treat please?"

[Scarlett_O']

My friend's 3(almost 4) year old(Huginn's niece) LOVES when Rhett crawls around on the floor!

She is use to dogs, horses, cats, etc. But when I had him in the the house for a birthday bond fire and he was starting to bounce around, I got him to focus on me, and one of the things we go thru is lay and then crawl.....she started giggling, and couldn't stop!LOL

We are working on doing the "fire-roll" next!

[xellil]

That's a great idea. Rebel does the military crawl very well when he is trying to sneak away from me. So I guess I just have to figure out how to ask him for it. it is pretty hilarious.

[MollyWoppy]

Mol does heaps of tricks, mostly for that very reason, kids and non-dog liking adults. It doesn't help that Mol looks like a small German Shepherd, so I find a lot of people naturally shy away from her and assume the worst.
On a happy note, tricks really do loosen people up and every single kid we've come across adores it. The only trouble is that the kids all want to hug her and then they want to try and get her to do the tricks too, so poor Mol gets bombarded with commands. I can see her look at me, like, what the hell, get me out of here sunshine! But, she's a good sport!

Google dog tricks, there's heaps of sites with good instructions on different things to teach.

[xellil]

Thanks. I made the mistake of assuming i would never need this. I should have known better. We teach dogs tricks for more reasons than one, i guess. If it were up to me, we'd never have to shake each other's hands.

I'll google - I looked out there, but man it was so overwhelming I didn't know where to start. i have a month so I want to pick about five tricks and get them down good, if I can.

And to be honest, since probably August we have done almost no training at all, except stuff like making him wait for food. Since my dad got sick my dogs have been pretty much ignored. So we probably need to work on stuff like heel again also.

[Scarlett_O']

That's a great idea. Rebel does the military crawl very well when he is trying to sneak away from me. So I guess I just have to figure out how to ask him for it. it is pretty hilarious.

How I do it with Rhett, granted he was only 4 months old when we started, I get him to lay down, and then say "craawwl"...and slowly pull the treat away by about 6 inches, once he makes that first move I give him a tiny bit of the treat and we keep working(Ill allow his rear to come up off the ground when we first start so that he is ok with doing it.) I only work on about 1-2 feet at a time, then we break and go to something else, and just keep working on it a few times a day, he now will do it for about 4 feet....and does it for his food when ever I feed him out of his crate!LOL

[xellil]

How I do it with Rhett, granted he was only 4 months old when we started, I get him to lay down, and then say "craawwl"...and slowly pull the treat away by about 6 inches, once he makes that first move I give him a tiny bit of the treat and we keep working(Ill allow his rear to come up off the ground when we first start so that he is ok with doing it.) I only work on about 1-2 feet at a time, then we break and go to something else, and just keep working on it a few times a day, he now will do it for about 4 feet....and does it for his food when ever I feed him out of his crate!LOL

Wow - that's great, thanks. We'll start tonight. I love step by step instructions!

[Scarlett_O']

Wow - that's great, thanks. We'll start tonight. I love step by step instructions!

Good luck and no problem!

(I have been working with my husband to train his 2 boys....and that takes step by step instructions, so Ive gotten use to stating them that way!LOL)

[xellil]

and Rebel will be glad to get some attention. We went from spending several hours a day doing stuff to me throwing some food at them on my way to bed. And then he got the ankle issue and we're trying to heal it so it's been downhill for several months.

I hate to say I need the same level of detailed instructions as a fellow, but as people have said until i'm sick of hearing it - it is what it is!!! No offense, fellows.

[Sprocket]

I found it helpful that Gunner did the crawl and paw on his own before I taught the command.

He would "sneak" across the living room st a friends house to play with their dog. He'd crawl the entire way so we associated a command to it.

He also had an affinity for pawing you so now he has to wait for us to ask for it. He knows shake and high five to further utilize his want to paw you. He has since stopped pawing without a command.

I taught Mikey the nose "touch" because he did it already so I just used the word for it. Gunner knows "touch" too

I can't wait to show my nephew next week! :)