To teach your St. Bernard tricks, even easy ones, you should have in hand some good treats, go to a quiet suitable place and keep the teaching sessions to under fifteen minutes or your St. Bernard will start to get bored. Take note that when he gets something correct offer him lots of appreciation and a reward snack, however be careful not to get him too thrilled or he may lose focus.
Teach your St. Bernard to offer you his paw
To train your St. Bernard to offer you his paw, initially get him to sit, then as you say the word ‘paw’ take his paw in your hand and give him a snack. After that do it again, and after a few practices do not take his paw so fast. Say the word ‘paw’, count to 1 and after that take it. You need to notice that he is bringing his paw up as you say the word. If he doesn’t then go back to saying it at the exact same time. Do it a couple of more times then slow your response once again. After just a few sessions most St. Bernards pick this trick up quite easily.
Teach your St. Bernard to give you a high 5
Like a great deal of tricks the high five is a continuation of an earlier trick, and in this case the paw trick. Hold a treat in between your fingers and raise your hand a bit higher than you’d do for the paw trick. Your St. Bernard will presume you want to perform the paw trick and will grab the snack with his paw as we trained him in the previous trick. As he reaches up you say “high five” and offer him the treat. Once your St. Bernard has mastered the paw trick this 1 should be very easy to master and with only a few sessions he will be accomplishing it on hand signal instead of your voice.
Teach your St. Bernard to leap through a hoop
Before you start this 1 I would just like to ask you to be a little reasonable and not suspend the hoop higher than necessary as you don’t really want your St. Bernard to hurt himself while performing the trick. Set your St. Bernard on one side of a hula hoop, get him to pay attention to your hand on the other side of the hoop. Hold a treat in your hand and offer the St. Bernard the command to stop sitting. Initially he may try to go around or below the hoop. When this happens start again. Your St. Bernard wants the snack and will quickly discover that walking around or below does not get it done so he will quickly begin going through it. The instant he does, state “hoop” and offer him the snack. He’ll quickly be leaping through the hoop upon the command of “hoop”. When I started teaching this trick I owned a medium sized dog, so I began with the hoop six inches from the ground and gradually lifted it to waist high. In the event that you possess a smaller dog you may want to start with the hoop on the floor so he simply goes through the hoop and after that gradually lift it more once he gets used to the trick.
I know you have enjoyed learning these 3 tricks you can teach your St. Bernard. Have patience with your St. Bernard and most importantly, have fun!
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about St. Bernards
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