10 simple tricks to teach your dog
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This is just a simple outline of some simple tricks you can teach your dog. Some are more purposeful and some are just fun.
1. Sit
Sitting is one of the most basic dog tricks and probably the first one for most dog owners. It’s a pretty simple trick for a dog to learn and it can be very useful for dog owners.
2. Lay down
Laying down is another very basic, but useful dog trick. It is simple for the dog to learn and for the owner to teach.
3. Stay
Stay is a very useful dog trick that can be used to keep your dog out of the way for a short period of time. You can use this time to clean up something that is unsafe, to put away something that you want to protect from your dog, or to set up a fun surprise for her.
4. Fetch
Fetch is not really a necessary trick, but it is the most basic dog game. Fetch simply requires a dog to bring something to you. It’s best to start out with a ball or some kind of dog toy that your dog really likes so that they will be interested in the game. Toys that squeak are also good motivators for your dog. 
5. Shake
This is another fun trick for your dog to learn. I remember teaching it to Pepper. She hated it at first, but now it is one of her favorites. I would have her sit, then I would say shake while I picked up one of her front paws. I would give her a treat after. She’s gotten so good at it that she will often shake multiple times, which front paw she gives you. (She thinks this is a really easy way to get a treat now.)
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Wave
This one is kind of a bonus trick because once you’ve taught your dog to shake, waving is pretty simple. Most dogs will pick up on the hand sign of offering your hand when you go to shake, and they will extend a paw for you to take. In this case, you would start out the same way, except extend our hand all the way to them, stop a little bit short so that their paw basically misses your hand and say wave. From there I recommend moving on to using a hand sign that looks more like waving so that it doesn’t get confused with shake.
6. Nose
This is a really cute trick you can teach your dog. The goal is that you offer your hand with the palm out while you say “nose” and your dog will bump your hand with her nose. My sister actually taught this one to Pepper while she was visiting. She learned it pretty much instantly because she is always using her nose to show us what she wants.
7. Turn around
Turning around is a fun trick for your dog. I will just use my finger and indicate spinning around and Pepper will turn around in a circle. It’s very cute. Pepper doesn’t seem to mind the trick at all, but Princess, the dog I had growing up, must have thought it was the most annoying thing I could ask of her. She would make such a fuss about doing it. It was very cute and brings back very happy memories for me.
8. Roll-over
This trick is also just for fun. When Pepper was learning this trick I first had her lay down. Then I would kind of push her over onto her back and then all the way over and say roll-over. It took a little while for her to figure this one out, and for some reason, she has now decided that it means to turn around, probably because the hand sign I use it too similar to the hand sign for turn-around, so I actually had to update it to “roll over all the way.” Pepper is kind of picky about doing this trick, but when she’s properly motivated she remembers it and can perform it perfectly.
9. Go to bed
Go to bed a command where I will point to one of Pepper’s many dog beds through our house and she will go there, lay down, and wait for me to release her with an “ok.” This trick is a little bit more advanced because it requires her to wait for a longer time and she needs to wait for me to release her. It is useful for getting her out of the way when we are doing something that could hurt her, like moving large boxes in and out of the garage or re-arranging furniture. She can usually still see us from where she is, but she is not underfoot, so she doesn’t get stepped on, or trip us, which is nice. Ideally, if Pepper learned this trick perfectly, I would be able to send her to bed when someone comes to the door so that she would not bark and them and jump all over them, but I haven’t gotten her trained that well on it yet.
10. Play dead
This is another one of my favorite tricks that Pepper does. You can teach your dog to lay down and roll over partway so that they are lying on their back and stay there, or you can go a step farther and have your dog turn around before lying down and rolling over onto her back. I did this because I thought it was cute. I used a finger shooting hand sign and the command is “bang bang bang.” So, when I want Pepper to play dead I look at her and use two-finger guns to “shoot” her three times then she turns around in a circle, lies down and rolls over onto her back with her feet sticking up in the air. When I was teaching this trick to Pepper, she actually added a few steps of her own that have stuck, and I just think they are so cute. Before she turns around, she will bump my hand to make sure I have a treat for her, then after she turns around, she will touch my foot and then lie down, and rollover with her feet in the air. I have no idea why she added this step, but I find it very endearing, so I never bothered to correct it.
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