Why Train Tricks?
Builds a strong working relationship... Trick training can strengthen your relationship with your dog because you are opening up a genuine form of two way communication between you and your dog.
Provides exercise and mental stimulation... Trick training is also an excellent way for you to provide your dog with both mental and physical exercise. It gives young, energetic dogs an outlet for their energy (it is going to come out one way or another so why not channel it into something constructive) and keeps older dogs mentally and physically agile. Tricks are also a great way to improve your dog’s body awareness and strength, which can help keep them fit and injury free.
Makes the learning process fun... Through trick training, your dog will learn to enjoy training and become a better learner in the process. Tricks can help build your dog’s confidence and impulse control, as well as teaching them to offer behavior and respond to cues. The more tricks your dog “gets under his collar”, the faster he will learn new behaviors. Tricks can be the building blocks for more advanced behaviors and often transfer to other venues, such as agility, freestyle, treibball, rally obedience, etc.
Improves your training skills... Teaching tricks can also help you improve your training skills. With practice, you will begin to:
Understand how dogs learn,
Learn how to break complex behaviors into smaller parts,
Improve your timing,
Develop a training plan and learn to evaluate and set criteria,
Learn how to better motivate your dog, and
Hone your skill using a variety of training techniques, including luring, shaping and targeting.
Trick training will prepare you to approach any training challenge with confidence.
Training tricks is fun... Oftentimes, owners look at training “obedience” behaviors as a chore, something that has to be done but isn’t much fun. People expect their dogs to naturally be obedient, but rarely expect their dogs to naturally do tricks. Trick training can help both you and your dog to learn how rewarding and fun the training process can be.
The realization that “It’s All Tricks!” will help you incorporate the same fun for training tricks into all aspects of training.
