Teach Your Old Dog (or Cat) New Tricks

Dogs

Army Crawl

1. Cue your dog to lay down. Face them standing or kneeling.
2. Hold a treat firmly between your fingers in front of your dog’s nose. Slowly pull the treat along the floor back toward yourself.
3. If your dog inches their body forward along the floor, even just a tiny bit, mark it with a “Yes!” or a clicker and reward them with the treat. Repeat several times. If your dog stands up instead of crawling on the floor, quickly remove your hand/the treat and start again at step 1.
4. Back a foot or two farther away from your dog. Take the treat firmly between your fingers again and stretch your arm towards your dog, pulling it back toward yourself as they crawl toward you. Mark and reward your dog when they reach you.
5. Continue to slowly increase your distance from your dog until they can crawl ten feet or more.

Kiss

1. Hold a treat at your cheek and say “Kiss!”
2. Wait for your dog to touch their nose to your face in search of the treat. The moment you feel it, mark it with the word “Yes!” then quickly pull your face away and give your dog the treat. Repeat several times.
3. Next, with no treat in your hand, touch your cheek and say “Kiss!” Mark, pull away and reward your dog when you feel their nose touch you.

Cats

Hoop Jumping

1. Place a small hula hoop between you (and a treat) and your cat.
2. Hold the treat and a clicker in front of the hula hoop, click and wait for your cat to walk through the hoop to get his treat.
3. Continue to practice this trick until your cat goes through the hoop at the sound of the clicker. Reward your cat each time he successfully walks through the hoop.
4. Eventually, you will be able to speed up the action or change the size and placement of the hoop until your cat is leaping through it gracefully.

Come

1. Begin training your cat during feeding times. Make a distinct noise, such as vocally calling your cat, before you open a bag or can of cat food.
2. Once your cat has learned to associate the noise with the positive reinforcement of food, he will eventually head to you when he hears the noise.
3. Next, encourage the behavior outside of feeding times. Start from short distances and make the noise, use your clicker when your cat comes and then reward him with a treat.
4. Continue this method of training for up to two 5-minute sessions a day, during which you should repeat the behavior up to 20 times.

When teaching your pet new tricks, don’t forget the importance of positive reinforcement training. Make sure to have plenty of Supreme Source treats on hand to reward your dog or cat for accomplishing a goal.