To teach your Icelandic Sheepdog tricks, even easy ones, you need to have in hand some small treats, be in a remote suitable location and manage to keep the instruction sessions to under 15 minutes or your Icelandic Sheepdog will begin to get tired. Don’t forget that when he gets something right give him lots of praise and a reward snack, yet beware not to get him extra ecstatic or he can lose focus.
Teach your Icelandic Sheepdog to give you his paw
To train your Icelandic Sheepdog to give you his paw, first get him to sit, then as you say the word ‘paw’ take his paw in your hand and give him a snack. Then repeat this, and after a couple of tries do not take his paw so quickly. State the word ‘paw’, count to 1 and then take it. You ought to discover that he is bringing his paw up as you say the word. If he does not then return to stating it at the very same time. Do it a few more times then slow your reaction again. After a few sessions most Icelandic Sheepdogs pick this trick up rather easily.
Teach your Icelandic Sheepdog to give you a high 5
Like a great deal of tricks the high 5 is a continuation of a basic trick, and in this case the paw trick. Place a snack in between your two fingers and raise your hand a little higher than you would for the paw trick. Your Icelandic Sheepdog will expect you wish to do the paw trick and will reach for the treat with his paw as we taught him in the prior trick. Once he reaches up you say “high five” and give him the snack. When your Icelandic Sheepdog has mastered the paw trick this one will most likely be extremely simple to learn and with only a couple of sessions he will be doing it on hand signal instead of voice control.
Teach your Icelandic Sheepdog to jump through a hoop
Before you start this one I would simply like to ask you to be a little practical and not suspend the hoop too high up as you don’t really want your Icelandic Sheepdog to hurt himself while practicing the trick. Set your Icelandic Sheepdog on 1 side of a hula hoop, get him to take notice of your hand on the opposite side of the hoop. Hold a snack in your hand and give the Icelandic Sheepdog the command to stop sitting. Initially he might try to walk around or below the hula hoop. If this occurs begin once again. Your Icelandic Sheepdog desires the snack and will soon discover that walking around or below doesn’t work so he will soon start going through it. Whenever he does, say “hoop” and give him the snack. He will quickly be jumping through the hoop upon the command of “hoop”. When I initially began teaching this trick I owned a medium sized dog, so I started with the hoop six inches from the floor and gradually brought it to waist high. In the case that you have a smaller sized dog you might want to begin with the hoop touching the ground so he just goes through the hoop and after that slowly lift it as he gets accustomed to the trick.
I know you have enjoyed these 3 tricks you can teach your Icelandic Sheepdog. Have patience with your Icelandic Sheepdog and most importantly, have a good time!
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Icelandic Sheepdogs
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