How to Teach The Cool Dog Trick "Beg"

Learn how to teach your dog the "Beg" or "Sit-up" dog trick.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Target Stick
• Dog Training Clicker
• Tasty Treats

1. With your dog sitting in front of you present the target stick slightly above your dog's head. Click and treat any upward glance or movement toward target stick.

2. Same as step 1 only now you hold the target stick a little higher and wait for your dog to reach up and touch the target stick. Click and treat as soon as your dog touches the stick.

3. Hold the target stick in the same position as step 2 but now you delay the click and treat for a second or two when your dog touches the stick. This extends the amount of time your dog stays in the beg position.

4. Now add your cue word "beg" a fraction of a second before you produce the target stick. This begins to build an association in your dog's mind between your verbal cue and the act of getting into the beg or sit-up position.

5. It's now time to fade the target stick and begin to rely more on our verbal cue word "beg". Do this by taking the target stick in and out quickly and by shortening it until it disappears into your hand.

6. We now leave any prompting, targeting or luring behind and rely solely on our verbal cue. Say "beg" and your dog should rock back into the classic beg position.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to use your dog's very favorite treats when training any new behavior or trick. The treats serve as motivation so why not make them the most tasty treats as possible?
• If your dog continues to back away from the target stick or struggles to maintain his/her balance in the beg position you should move your training session close to a wall or corner position.
• Not all dogs are suited to the dog trick "Beg". If your dog has a sore back, is getting on in years or has a long back, you should avoid the beg dog trick.

Resources

• Dog Training Tricks

[FrazzledNanny]

on 5/11/2009 Thanks for the great article. My 8 year old has been trying to teach Pixie (my avatar) to beg and sit along with a host of other tricks. I will share your article with her. 5*

[SusanYEngland]

on 1/3/2009 Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the information.

[chenderson00]

on 12/29/2008 Oooh, I'm trying to teach my pooch, but she only does what she WANTS to do. I guess I can thank myself for spoiling her when she was a puppy. 5*s and I will try this method and see if she will obey and look at me like I'm crazy! lol 5*s again!