How to teach your dog to get a beer

As strange as it may seem, training your dog to get a beer is not an activity for the lazy! The dog has to perform a complex task, and you will have to teach him how to do it one step at a time. With patience and persistence, it will work, but don't expect your dog to be fully trained by the game on Sunday.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Beer Cans
• Beer Koozies
• Dog Treats
• Old Towel or Rope

1. Put several cans of beer in koozies - small foam protectors designed to keep it cold.

2. Train your dog to pick up the can. Say "take it" to your dog, while holding out a beer. When the dog takes the beer, pet him, praise him, and give him a treat.

3. Repeat the command, using beers on a table. When the dog takes one, reward her.

4. Take an old rope, rag, or towel, and play tug of war with your dog for a few minutes. This should not be one of your dog's toys, but something picked especially for this purpose.

5. Tie the rope on to the fridge. Place several beers in koozies on the bottom shelf.

6. Call your dog over to you.

7. Pull the door open with the towel, then point to the beer and give your dog a command. It should not be "take it," since using this command in the future might result in the dog picking up an open beer from the table. "Get beer" works fine.

8. Point at the beer, or touch it if your dog doesn't understand. Eventually, he will figure it out and pick up a beer. Reward him.

9. After your dog gets a beer after seeing you pulling the rope a few times, try the "get beer" command with the fridge closed. If your dog doesn't understand, grab the rope and shake it until she pulls on it and opens up the fridge.

10. Once you teach the dog to open up the fridge and take out a beer, try it from across the room. Reward your dog when he brings you the beer.

11. With persistence, you can train your dog to get you a beer from any room in the house. Once she learns the trick, she'll understand to go to the fridge and come back to you.

Tips & Warnings

• Do the training in somewhere easy to clean up. If you have carpet, you might want to practice outside until your dog gets the basics.
• Do not use glass bottles. Your dog will drop a few beers, so using bottles is going to be messy at best, and potentially dangerous at worse.
• Don't try this out with your Dachshund! Only big breeds with large mouths will be able to pick up a beer.