To teach your Rat Terrier tricks, even the easy ones, you should always have some small treats, go to a quiet suitable location and try to keep the training sessions to under 15 minutes or the Rat Terrier will start to get bored. Remember when he gets something correct give him lots of praise and a reward snack, but be careful not to get him too fired up or he will lose concentration.
Teach your Rat Terrier to give you his paw
To get your Rat Terrier to give you his paw, initially get him to sit, then as you say the word ‘paw’ take his paw in your hand and offer him a snack. Then repeat this, and after a few practices don’t take his paw so quickly. State the word ‘paw’, count to one and only then take it. You should observe that he is bringing his paw upward as you say the word. If he doesn’t then go back to stating it at the very same time. Do it a few more times then slow your reaction once again. After just a couple of sessions most Rat Terriers pick this trick up rather easily.
Teach your Rat Terrier to give you a high five
Like a lot of tricks the high 5 is a progression of an earlier trick, and in this case the paw trick. Hold a snack in between your two fingers and lift your hand a bit higher than you would raise it for the paw trick. Your Rat Terrier will believe you desire to do the paw trick and will grab the snack with his paw as we taught him previously. While he rises you say “high five” and give him the treat. As soon as your Rat Terrier has actually mastered the paw trick this 1 will probably be extremely simple to master and with just a few sessions he will be accomplishing it from your hand signal rather than from your voice.
Teach your Rat Terrier to leap through a hoop
Before you begin this 1 I would simply like to ask you to be a little sensible and not hold the hoop higher than necessary as you do not want your Rat Terrier to hurt himself while performing the trick. Set your Rat Terrier on 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 Rat Terrier the direction to stop sitting. At first he may try to walk around or under the hula hoop. When this occurs begin once again. Your Rat Terrier wants the treat and will soon discover that walking around or below does not 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 on the command of “hoop”. When I began teaching this trick I had a medium sized dog, so I started with the hoop 6 inches from the ground and gradually lifted it to waist high. If you own a smaller sized dog you may want to start with the hoop on the floor so he simply goes through the hoop and after that gradually raise it more as he gets accustomed to the trick.
I expect you have enjoyed learning these 3 tricks you can teach your Rat Terrier. Have patience with your Rat Terrier and most importantly, have fun!
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Rat Terriers
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