To teach your Australian Cattle Dog tricks, even simple ones, you need to get hold of some of his favorite snacks, go to a quiet suitable location and manage to keep the training sessions to 10 – 15 minutes or your Australian Cattle Dog will begin to get tired. Take note that when he gets something correct give him lots of praise and a reward snack, just take care not to get him extra fired up or he may likely lose concentration.
Teach your Australian Cattle Dog to offer you his paw
To teach your Australian Cattle Dog to give you his paw, initially get him to sit, then as you state the word ‘paw’ take his paw in your hand and offer him a snack. Now repeat this, and after a few successful tries do not take his paw so quickly. Say the word ‘paw’, count to one and after that take it. You need to notice that he is raising his paw upward as you state the word. If he doesn’t then return to saying it at the same time. Do it a couple of more times then slow your response once again. After a couple of sessions most Australian Cattle Dogs pick this trick up rather quickly.
Teach your Australian Cattle Dog 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. Hold a treat in between your fingers and raise your hand just a little higher than you would for the paw trick. Your Australian Cattle Dog will assume you wish to do the paw trick and will grab the treat with his paw as we had taught him in the previous trick. While he rises you say “high 5” and offer him the treat. Once your Australian Cattle Dog has actually mastered the paw trick this one will probably be extremely simple to master and with just a couple of sessions he will be accomplishing it on hand signal instead of from your voice.
Teach your Australian Cattle Dog to jump through a hoop
Before you start this one I would just like to ask you to be a little sensible and not suspend the hoop too high as you do not really want your Australian Cattle Dog to injure himself while performing the trick. Set your Australian Cattle Dog to 1 side of a hula hoop, get him to focus on your hand on the other side of the hoop. Place a snack in your hand and offer the Australian Cattle Dog the direction to stop sitting. Initially he may try to walk around or below the hula hoop. If this takes place start again. Your Australian Cattle Dog wants the treat and will quickly find out that walking around or underneath doesn’t get it so he’ll quickly start going through it. Whenever he does, say “hoop” and offer him the treat. He’ll quickly be jumping through the hoop upon the command of “hoop”. When I first started teaching this trick I had a medium sized dog, so I started with the hoop six inches from the floor and gradually raised it to waist height. If you own a smaller sized dog you may want to begin with the hoop on the ground so he just goes through the hoop and then slowly raise it as he gets accustomed to the trick.
I trust you have enjoyed these 3 tricks you can teach your Australian Cattle Dog. Have patience with your Australian Cattle Dog and above all, have fun!
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Australian Cattle Dogs
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