Unleash your dog’s full potential and strengthen your bond with this ultimate guide to 100 neat tricks. Whether you’re a seasoned trainer or just starting, teaching your dog new skills is incredibly rewarding. From simple commands to impressive routines, these tricks offer fantastic mental stimulation and physical exercise, ensuring your canine companion is happy, well-behaved, and a joy to be around. Get ready to embark on a fun journey that will enhance communication, build confidence, and transform your dog into a true trick master. Teaching your dog some cool things to train your dog can be a fantastic way to deepen your connection and showcase their intelligence.
A happy dog performing a neat trick, looking engaged and well-trained
Sweet and Simple Dog Tricks
These foundational tricks are perfect for beginners, allowing both you and your dog to learn the ropes of positive reinforcement training. They are visually appealing and surprisingly easy to teach, building a strong base for more complex maneuvers.
Wait
This trick promotes calm self-control. Your dog learns that patience leads to a reward, enhancing their focus. It’s a useful prelude to many other commands and makes your dog appear incredibly obedient. Dog trainers appreciate this trick for its ability to teach focus and control in everyday situations.
Shake
A classic and endearing trick, teaching your dog to shake hands is remarkably straightforward. Your dog will learn to offer a front paw on command, a polite greeting for you and your guests. Dog trainers often teach this as a great alternative to prevent jumping up when greeting people.
Hands Up
Hands Up is an impressive trick where your dog sits back and holds both front paws simultaneously in the air. Rewarding good timing makes this visually complex trick quite simple to teach. It demonstrates focus and concentration as your dog adopts an unnatural position for a reward.
Speak
Teaching your dog to bark on command is easy and provides a foundation for controlling excessive barking. Dog trainers find this trick, along with “Quiet,” essential for managing a noisy canine.
Quiet
Naturally taught after “Speak,” or as a standalone trick for persistent barkers, “Quiet” helps manage your dog’s vocalizations. Dog trainers often share this successful method with owners struggling with barking issues.
Are You Tired? (Yawn)
This trick provokes a yawn on command, creating the illusion of deep communication with your sleepy pup. Yawning is a natural calming signal for dogs, making this behavior relatively easy to reinforce during training sessions. Dog trainers love this as an example of shaping natural behavior into cross-species communication.
Fetch Your Bear
Teaching your dog to retrieve specific items is simple; it’s about associating a name with an object. While the example uses a teddy bear, you can substitute any preferred toy. This skill has vast potential, improving general focus and recall.
Say Your Prayers
A fun trick where your dog sits, places front legs on a prop, and drops its head. If your dog knows “Hands Up,” this trick builds on that foundation. It’s a visually unique position that offers excellent mental stimulation for your dog.
Wave Goodbye
Waving to an audience is a charming trick. It’s a great prelude to other tricks and a wonderful way for your dog to greet people without excessive excitement or jumping. This trick requires focus and concentration from your dog.
Go to Bed
Easy to teach and impressive, telling your dog to “Go to Bed” is especially striking when they cross a room to their sleeping spot. Besides looking good, it provides owners with valuable control within the home.
Sound Asleep
This trick, when performed well, makes your dog appear deeply asleep, though they are simply lying still, awaiting release. It promotes calmness and control at home, and can be adapted to teach your dog to settle in their bed.
Take a Bow
A polite trick to conclude any routine, taking a bow is easier to teach with a treat lure. Dog trainers love this for encouraging intensive learning and adding a polished finish to any performance.
Dance Moves
These tricks can be taught individually or chained together to create captivating dance routines, a skill popularized by heelwork to music and talent shows. They break down complex movements into manageable steps.
Reverse
Your dog walks backward while facing you, looking even neater if you walk towards them simultaneously, creating a dance-like effect. This trick helps your dog focus on you while performing a physical task.
Twist
“Twist” teaches your dog to spin in a circle on all four feet in front of you. It’s an easy trick that significantly boosts a dog’s confidence during training.
Target Stick
A target stick is an invaluable prop for heelwork to music, directing your dog and facilitating more complex tricks. Your dog will follow the stick with its eyes and body to earn a reward, opening many doors for advanced training.
Pick Up Stick
An impressive trick building on targeting techniques, where your dog picks up a walking stick and hands it to you. Teaching your dog to pick up items is a useful exercise that can be expanded to many objects.
Commando
Despite its complex appearance, teaching your dog to crawl on its belly is straightforward. This simple-to-teach trick looks impressive and can lead to more advanced crawling maneuvers.
Roll Over
A dog lying down can quickly learn to roll over onto its back and return to its stomach in a 360-degree turn. This quick trick integrates well with other movements and can also teach a dog to roll in its blanket.
Weave
This expert-level teamwork trick involves your dog weaving through your legs as you walk. When perfected, it looks incredibly smooth and effortless.
Circle Me
Your dog circles your body in this neat and impressive trick. It’s easy to teach and adds flair to any heelwork or obedience routine.
Stand Tall
Physically demanding and best for fit dogs, this trick teaches your dog to stand on its rear legs. It improves stamina and focus.
Walk Tall
A variation of “Stand Tall,” where your dog, after mastering balance, learns to walk on its hind legs. This trick enhances focus, balance, and stamina, and is quite challenging for trainers.
The Service Dog
These tricks enable your dog to assist around the house, showcasing useful skills to friends and family.
Shut the Door
A popular and surprisingly easy trick where your dog learns to close an open door on command. It effectively utilizes positive reinforcement and targeting techniques.
Open the Door
This trick teaches your dog to open a door. While some dogs might need help due to size or handle type, a dog that can open a door on command is always impressive. This skill can progress to more advanced tasks.
Fetch the TV Remote
A practical everyday trick; teach your dog to fetch the TV remote and you’ll never lose it again (though be prepared for a soggy remote with slobbery dogs!). This trick can be utilized to train your dog to retrieve almost anything.
Pick Up Keys
Taught to service dogs, this fantastic trick trains your dog to pick up dropped keys and return them to you. A plush keyring or knotted material on the fob can aid in lifting and carrying. This trick often relies on the dog’s initiative.
Find Keys
An extension of “Pick Up Keys,” this trick is useful when keys are lost outside or inside the home. It’s one of the most practical and easy-to-teach skills for a dog.
Fetch the Newspaper
A great and highly useful trick, your dog can easily learn to make bringing you the newspaper one of its daily tasks. This is also an excellent way to teach a positive response to the mailman.
Differentiate Between Items
Without a single command word, this trick teaches your dog to recognize individual items by name (e.g., bone, bear, ball). It appears highly skillful when a dog can pick out a specific item from many.
Wake Up
A truly heartwarming trick, originally used to wake deaf individuals, but can be taught to any dog. It requires patience but is very rewarding. Dog trainers love the experience of being woken by a loving canine.
Pass a Note
A fun trick for the whole family, where your dog carries a note to someone in another room. It’s easily modified and enhances household communication in an entertaining way.
Fetch a Drink
Having your dog fetch a drink from the fridge or cupboard is entertaining and, with door-opening skills, not difficult to teach. With careful training, most dogs can learn to retrieve a cold drink for their owners.
Household Chores
These surprisingly easy tricks also ensure your dog contributes around the house.
Wipe Your Paws
Excellent for cleaning muddy paws after a walk, your dog can learn to wipe its paws on a mat before entering the house. This trick utilizes natural dog behavior and is especially helpful in multi-dog homes.
Shake (to dry)
A dog that shakes on command is useful and fun. This natural behavior for a wet dog is easy to reinforce and looks great when performed by a dry dog, helping keep water out of the house after wet walks. This is truly dog training through positive reinforcement.
Put Your Toys Away
Teaching your dog to put toys away is incredibly rewarding. Watching them gather everything into a box on command is impressive and instills pride. This trick encourages problem-solving for a reward.
Fetch the Phone
A dog that fetches the phone when it rings is a truly useful trick to teach. It’s both practical and very impressive.
Take Off Your Socks
Fun and impressive, the act of your dog taking off your socks never gets old. This trick can also boost the confidence of a sensitive dog through playful tugging.
Unzip Your Jacket
A fantastic trick where your dog helps you remove your coat upon entering a room. It encourages focus during greetings, preventing over-excitement.
Laundry Basket
Fantastic and useful, teaching your dog to put laundry in a basket makes them earn their treats. Similar to putting toys away, it’s a great addition to routines like removing socks or jackets. This trick provides a foundation for many others.
Close the Curtains
Teach your dog to close the curtains and impress visitors every time they perform it on command. It’s a fun and somewhat unusual trick.
The Agility Dog
These tricks build agility and are impressive to watch. Ensure your dog is fit and healthy, as these are great for energetic dogs.
Hurdle
Teaching your dog to jump over hurdles is fun and addictive, a key part of competitive agility. Hurdles expend energy and encourage focus. It improves stamina and fitness while enhancing concentration.
Bounce
A dog that bounces spritely in the air repeatedly looks amazing, as if on springs. It’s a great and fun act to watch and encourage. This trick is challenging as it’s not a natural behavior for most dogs.
Hop It
This impressive trick can be standalone or part of a routine. Use your target stick for your dog to jump over. It’s neat, versatile, and often used in heelwork to music and obedience routines.
Sneaky
A simple but effective trick, “Sneaky” asks your dog to go underneath something. Initially, crawl under a low hurdle, then apply the command to any obstacle. This trick is versatile and allows you to direct your dog under various obstructions.
Weave Poles
Quickly and easily taught by luring with a treat or target stick, weave poles are an impressive part of competitive agility. Dogs thoroughly enjoy the weave, making it a favorite for trainers.
Through the Hole
Fantastic and fun, this is one of the most impressive agility acts. You create a loop with your arms, and your dog jumps through it. This trick is the ultimate in teamwork and looks brilliant to spectators.
Jump Into Your Arms
A happy dog will trust enough to jump directly into its handler’s arms. This trick involves your dog jumping into your waiting arms. It’s a nice standalone trick or part of a longer routine, enhancing trust in the canine relationship.
Hoop
Your dog jumps through a hoop held at any height or angle, suspended or by the handler. This trick can be a challenge to teach and significantly builds human-canine trust.
The Moving Hoop
An extension of jumping through a hoop, this trick requires skill from the trainer. You pass the hoop from left to right, and your dog jumps through it both times. It’s the ultimate teamwork and a good workout for the trainer’s arms.
Leap Me
Your dog jumps over a person on their hands and knees, and once learned, can be extended to jump over you. This trick adds flair to any routine, improving stamina and trust between dog and trainer.
The Working Dog
These tricks offer insight into how dogs are trained for various jobs and give your dog a taste of working life.
Find It!
All search tasks are rooted in retrieval. For a sniffer dog, the entire search is a prelude to retrieve. Fetching something and bringing it back on command is a useful trick alone and as a base for further routines. Retrieve games exercise, stimulate, and offer control to a dog.
Present!
“Present” is useful for dogs that like to hold onto toys. Your dog learns to approach with a toy, sit, and offer it to you. Dog trainers appreciate retrieve and present for encouraging focus on toys during walks and training.
Search Tricks to Impress
Based on professional dog training techniques, these search tricks are fun for both you and your dog, with rewarding results. “Seek” or “Find” are good command examples.
Use Your Nose
Encouraging your dog to use its nose is a learning process for both of you. This trick effectively teaches scenting to find a toy, which is also impressive for an audience. It teaches focus and control.
Room
Your dog searches a room to find its toy, eventually sniffing it out in cupboards and at any height. A helper might be needed to hold your dog while you hide the toy. This trick mentally and physically expends a dog’s energy.
Garden
Searching the garden for a toy is a great trick, especially impressive at barbeques. It builds stamina and focus, making any dog that can search a crowd-pleaser.
Route
Originating from security clearance, searching a route (in a quiet lane, not traffic) for a toy provides a good physical and mental workout. It’s excellent for physical fitness and stamina.
Vehicle
A dog that searches the outside of a vehicle for its toy is impressive, perfect for “party parking” or as your personal vehicle security dog. It looks professional and encourages the dog to think.
A Group of People
Often seen at airports, a dog searching a group of people is a head-turner, great for parties. This trick requires willing volunteers and encourages the dog to work hard with its nose.
Track a Person
Tracking a person at the park uses your dog’s nose and requires a helper. It’s great fun and will tire out even the most energetic dogs.
Patience
The passive response, or “ask nicely,” teaches your dog to indicate a find without touching it (like a search dog for explosives). This trick teaches perfect focus.
Crowd Pleasers
A selection of classic and enjoyable tricks that are surprisingly easy to teach using positive reinforcement.
Give a Paw
A timeless trick; few people greet a dog without asking for a paw. A dog that gives a paw on command always brings a smile. Dog trainers love this classic trick, especially when taught with positive reinforcement.
Swap the Paw
When your dog offers a paw, ask for the other one instead. This trick comes naturally and is established through reinforcement. It looks neat and encourages the dog to think for a reward.
Both Paws
A lovely trick where your dog sits and places both paws onto you for a reward. It requires some thought from your dog but becomes a frequently offered behavior once established. This is an interesting twist on the classic “shake a paw.”
Kisses
Teach your dog to give a big kiss on command. “Kiss” is a lovely and fun trick to try on yourself and others. It’s great fun and easy to teach.
Look Left
A fascinating trick that impresses even skeptics, teaching your dog to look left on command makes it seem like they understand human language. It requires excellent timing to teach, solely through positive reinforcement.
Look Right
Taught after “Look Left,” this trick teaches your dog to look right on command, creating a fantastic sequence. Excellent timing is crucial for improving dog training.
No
This trick gives the impression your dog is saying “no” to a question. It uses excellent timing to chain together already learned tricks.
Sky
Your dog looks upwards towards the sky. Keep in mind dogs’ limited ability to point their nose high. This trick requires skill, patience, and concentration.
Ground
Your dog looks at the ground on command, a fantastic response that convinces an audience your dog understands you. It’s easy to teach with positive reinforcement and fun to watch a dog figure out the reward.
Yes
“Say Yes” is an impressive trick. A dog that nods when asked if it wants a biscuit is fantastic fun. It’s a challenging trick that improves timing in training sessions.
Wolf
Teach your dog to howl like a wolf for an endearing and impressive trick. A howling dog sounds wonderful and is incredibly cute.
Singing Star
Similar to howling, but your dog sings along with you, creating a fantastic duet. It’s fun and a great stress reliever.
Growly Bear
Teach your dog to growl on command. It’s unusual to see a dog growling at its handler for a treat, making it a unique trick.
Whistle
Teach your dog to come running keenly at the sound of a whistle. This trick significantly enhances canine recall.
Stand Still
This trick teaches your dog to stand perfectly still, disregarding distractions. It combines focus and concentration for both dog and trainer.
Fetch His Bowl
An excellent trick where your dog fetches its food bowl to ask for food. While impressive, prepare to fend off a hungry dog more often than you’d like. A persistent dog ensures you never forget mealtime.
High Five
An extension of “Give a Paw” and “Wave Goodbye,” High Five is a great trick to conclude a combined routine.
Balance
The ultimate in self-control, your dog balances a biscuit on its nose and returns it unharmed. This trick builds control and focus.
Stay
This trick ensures your dog stays perfectly still on command, regardless of distractions. It offers crucial control in busy situations.
Statue
A “stay” where your dog remains motionless even when you’re out of sight. Practice in the garden, then perfect at the park. It enhances trust and provides control.
Cute Tricks for the Cutest Dogs
A group of classic and adorable dog tricks you’ll never tire of. Consider these 5 tricks to teach your dog to begin with.
Fetch My Slippers
A classic trick with a positive reinforcement twist, a dog fetching slippers is both useful and cute. Dog trainers love this classic for its utility and undeniable cuteness.
Fetch Your Leash
Every dog should fetch its leash on command. If you teach this, don’t be surprised if they fetch it unasked! It’s a classic that never ages.
Make Friends
One of the most endearing tricks, your dog gently approaches someone and places its head in their lap or on their leg, offering friendship. This encourages gentle greetings even from the bounciest dogs.
Smile
A dog that smiles is funny and incredibly cute. Some dogs offer a submissive smile naturally, which is easy to reinforce. The key is recognizing your dog’s unique smile and shaping it. Dog trainers love a challenge, and teaching a dog to smile is one!
Laugh
Most dogs make a snuffling, “laughter-like” sound when excited, especially during one-on-one contact. Asking your dog to laugh is wonderful to witness, as it clearly shows they’re having fun. This unusual trick is wonderful to see.
Get Busy
An extremely useful trick, “Get Busy” is toileting outside on command, invaluable when you’re short on time during walks. It’s particularly useful before training sessions.
Bang
“Bang” is fun, cute, and universally entertaining. Your dog drops to the floor and plays dead, as if shot by an imaginary gun. When well-practiced, it looks great and is easy to teach. For other easy dog tricks for beginners step by step, check out this resource.
Touch Your Nose
Your dog lifts its paw and touches its nose on command. This trick further suggests your dog understands human language.
Ashamed
This trick teaches your dog to lie down and put its paw over its muzzle, appearing ashamed. It looks extremely cute and requires some concentration to train.
Sore Paw
A great trick to fool unsuspecting visitors, your dog lifts its paw, feigning injury. Dog and trainer work as a team to evoke a sympathetic reaction from onlookers.
Go Around It
Your dog goes around any obstacle on command, be it a sofa, car, or even a lake on a walk. This original and fun trick is highly versatile.
Catch
While your dog happily catches treats, this trick teaches them to catch more unusual objects. It encourages alertness and focus.
Nose Nudge
This wonderful trick, taught to assistance dogs, is a gentle nose nudge to get their handler’s attention. It teaches your dog a non-invasive and gentle way to ask for attention.
Touch With Paw
Your dog learns to touch an item with its paw, useful for anything from switching on a light to ringing a bell. Targeting a disk allows your dog to touch any object with minimal further training. You can explore 7 best and easy dog tricks for beginners for more introductory ideas.
Doorbell
The ultimate dog trick: ringing a doorbell to come back inside from the garden. It encourages your dog to use its initiative.
Coordinated Canine
Advanced tricks that add pure flair to any routine, often utilizing a target stick. These are some of the best tricks to teach your dog.
Rear Leg Twirl
A physically demanding trick for dogs with sound hips and rear legs, where they stand on hind legs and twirl in a circle. It’s amazing to watch and extremely impressive.
Loop the Loop
A fun trick where your dog spins quickly in a continuous circle on all four feet until released. It expends canine energy and looks fantastic.
All Change
Your dog loops first one way, then the other. It looks great, and the change in direction is extremely impressive, requiring focus during intense physical activity.
Twirl Stick
A pretty trick, great for enhanced obedience routines, where your dog quickly completes a loop around your target stick. It’s great fun and a wonderful use of a prop for an impressive canine freestyle routine.
Freeze
The perfect final trick, your dog becomes a statue in its current position, not moving until released. This trick requires ultimate timing and skill to teach.
