In addition to being a venue in its own right, tricks can spice up your training and increase both your and your dog’s interest in the game.
Beside that, training tricks is fun! How much fun is it to watch your friends’ reactions when your dog shakes hands, sits up, touches your palm with his nose or spins in a circle? Your friends are always amazed at how smart your dog is.
And since we’re still self-isolating during the COVID-19 crisis, we’re home much more with our dogs. How can we avoid the bad behaviors that boredom brings? You know that when your dog is bored, he’ll look for things to do which may not be a good thing. The alternative: train your dog! Mental stimulation has been shown to be much more tiring than mere physical exercise. So, after a challenging training session, your dog may be quite tired. And we all know that a tired dog is a good dog!
Trick Titles by Video
And now you can actually receive Trick titles from the AKC when you submit videos! But first you have to get those trick behaviors down! The new Trick Dog Training Log has checklists for each level of titling, and lots of space for you to note your progress for each session.
Writing down your notes right after each training session is a true time-saver. Just the fact that you’re writing your notes down will help to solidify them in your brain. The next steps you want to take. What worked. What didn’t work, and what you want to try instead. It could take fewer sessions to achieve the ten tricks you need for the next title level.
Lists of approved Trick Dog evaluators is on the AKC website. Contact any of them and I’m sure they’ll be happy to review your submissions. (Each evaluator may have their own pricing structure.)