To teach your Dunker tricks, even easy ones, you need to have in hand some delicious snacks, teach him in a remote suitable location and always keep the training sessions to 10 – 15 minutes or your Dunker will start to get bored. Remember when he gets something right offer him great deals of praise and a reward treat, yet be mindful not to get him extremely ecstatic or he could lose focus.
Teach your Dunker to offer you his paw
To train your Dunker to give you his paw, initially get him to sit, then as you state the word ‘paw’ take his paw in your hand and give him a treat. Then do this again, and after a couple of successful tries don’t take his paw so fast. Say the word ‘paw’, count to 1 and only then take it. You need to notice that he is raising his paw up as you state the word. If he does not then return to saying it at the same time. Do it a few more times then slow your response again. After a few sessions most Dunkers pick this trick up rather easily.
Teach your Dunker to give you a high five
Like a lot of tricks the high 5 is a continuation of a basic trick, in this case the paw trick. Place a snack in your two fingers and raise your hand just a little higher than you would for the paw trick. Your Dunker will presume you want to perform the paw trick and will grab for the treat with his paw as we trained him in the previous trick. As he rises you say “high five” and give your Dunker the snack. Once your Dunker has actually mastered the paw trick this 1 should be very easy to understand and with only a couple of sessions he will be accomplishing it on hand signal instead of from your voice.
Teach your Dunker to jump through a hoop
Before you begin this one I would simply like to ask you to be a little reasonable and not suspend the hoop too high up as you don’t want your Dunker to injure himself while performing the trick. Set your Dunker to one side of a hula hoop, get him to pay attention to your hand on the opposite side of the hoop. Hold a treat in your hand and offer the Dunker the direction to stop sitting. In the beginning he might attempt to go around or underneath the hoop. When this happens start again. Your Dunker desires the snack and will quickly learn that walking around or underneath doesn’t get it done so he’ll quickly begin going through it. Once he does, say “hoop” and give him the snack. He’ll soon be jumping through the hoop upon the command of “hoop”. When I first began teaching this trick I owned a medium sized dog, so I began with the hoop 6 inches from the floor and gradually increased it to waist height. If you own a smaller dog you may wish to begin with the hoop on the ground so he just goes through the hoop and then gradually elevate it more once he gets accustomed to the trick.
I trust you have enjoyed these 3 tricks you can teach your Dunker. Have patience with your Dunker and most importantly, have fun!
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Dunkers
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