Dog Tricks

by Debra M. Eldredge, Kate Eldredge

People love to see dogs do funny and useful tricks, such as playing basketball, picking up toys, and putting down the toilet lid. Idiot's Dog Tricks demonstrates more than 80 popular tricks with detailed, step-by-step instructions and eye-catching full-color photographs. The book provides helpful information on using positive training, rewards, cues, and body language to facilitate training.

Genres: Dogs

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2015

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good instructional guide to help people learn to teach a dog tricks. The book is broken up into four sections: training basics, easy tricks, intermediate tricks, and advanced tricks.

The narrative is complemented with many large, colorful photographs that depict different dogs performing the various steps to each trick.

It's a fast read and while I only read the first two sections and skimmed the rest, I liked what I read and think it's helpful. We have trained our dogs to a limited extent and keep working with them each day.

But I really don't have the time, energy or inclination to teach our dogs new tricks right now; I initially borrowed this book for our girls for the summer, in case they were bored and/or motivated to work with our pups. I don't think they were all that interested, though.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

برای کسانی که سگ دارن یا با سگ ها سر و کار دارن، کتاب خیلی خوبیه. کمک میکنه به سگتون چندتا حرکت جالب یاد بدین. از چهار بخش تشکیل شده، تمرینات اولیه، مهارت های ابتدایی، مهارت های متوسط و مهارت های حرفه ای. سیستم روایتش خیلی ساده س و پر از عکس هایی هست که سگی رو نشون میده که داره اون حرکت رو انجام میده. کتاب آموزشیه خوبیه :)

[Magen - Inquiring Professional Dog Trainer]

From page 39, "Start enforcing an actual hold by waiting a second or two before rewarding, making sure not to reward if he grabs and immediately releases. You can help him figure this out by gently holding his mouth closed around the object. (Don't squeeze!)" emphasis added. I have a real problem with this type of instruction. Maybe it gets the dog to learn the behavior faster, but I'd rather my dog have fun while doing it, especially for tricks. This isn't an uncommon theme in dog trick books - it's why I stopped using 101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog, but something I won't practice and would like to bring to readers' attention, in case they feel the same.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource!

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of trick ideas. I wish there had been a greater variety of dog breeds used as trick models.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Impressions While Reading:
Fully photographed! In color!

Adorable/beautiful canine models for all the tricks.

A Trick I Taught Tucker (my 1-yr-old boxer):
Come & Carry! This is a build-upon trick. In our house, though, we call it a "task" rather than a "trick" since it's so useful. We first taught Tuck to "get it," which means that he should pick up whatever toy we point at. We'd already taught him "come" long ago. We combined the two with the "come and carry" command. So first we tell him to "get it" and then we tell him "come and carry" and he does! Now I don't have to pick up his chewed-on toys; he'll carry them from room to room for us!

This book is stuffed full of tricks/commands! There's everything from the useful ("come," "heel," etc.) to the fun for-show ("roll over," "shake hands," "play dead," "jump through hoop," etc.).