Puppy Education

• Tweet

• Tweet

Cocker Spaniels are amazing learners and possess excellent obedience intelligence. For initial lessons, maintain a familiar environment and privacy for the cocker spaniel to focus on you. Usually, dogs have a short-term attention span, so it’s imperative that you keep the chances of distractions almost zero.

Training based on positive reinforcement techniques makes the trick-learning process quick. Keep in mind to consistently follow the reward and punishment method. It involves giving a treat when the dog performs the trick right and holding it back when he fails to do it perfectly. It will help your fido associate the peak performance with treats. This method is effective for the puppy’s crate training as well.

Besides the methodology, give clear and short instructions like ‘spin’, ‘roll’, ‘jump’, etc. Clickers can also be added to reinforce the perfect response.

Here are seven amazing tricks you can teach your Cocker Spaniel:

Hand Shake

For teaching the shake hand trick, give verbal command ‘shake’ and then lift up your dog’s paw. Whenever you give the command, remember to pick up the same paw for quick learning. After picking up the paw, praise the dog. He will gradually learn to associate the paw-lift with praise and will volunteer himself. When he does the trick by himself, add a treat to the praise to encourage the response. With time, you can shift between paws, teach him the high five with both hands.

Stay and Come

This trick will help you in the long run because most owners want their dog to ‘stay’ at a point when needed. For this, you have to command your pooch to ‘stay’ as you move away. Keep moving away slowly, and command the dog to ‘stay’ every five seconds. Keep your hand in an extended position. When you have moved about 10 feet away, put your hand down and command ‘Come.’ When he will master the trick and perform the trick perfectly, reward him with a treat.

Catch it

If your dog is not used to holding bigger objects like balls easily, you can start the trick with treats. Throw a treat towards your Cocker Spaniel, and ask him to catch it. It will take few tries, but he will master the trick soon enough by following your hand’s directions.

Dance

The trick will help the dog learn to balance perfectly when he jumps up on you in excitement. It’s quite easy to teach if your dog always jumps up when you return. Whenever he jumps up next time, hold his front paws and make him balance on his hind legs. Praise him and give treats before lowering down the paws. Gradually, make him move his paws while standing to add more fun and cuteness. Small or medium weighed Cocker Spaniels can easily balance on hind legs.

Bow

To make the Cocker Spaniel learn to bow, a simple trick is to hold a treat and make him follow it to the floor with your hand movements. When he lowers his head, command him ‘bow’ to make mental associations. Stay consistent unless he learns the trick.

Roll Over

Command your Cocker Spaniel to sit and lie down. Hold a treat near the pet’s chin, roll it over to the dog’s head and let him follow your hand. Say the word ‘roll over’ when the treat is near the head. It will make the dog turn to reach for the treat. Reward him at this point along with your praise to reinforce the response.

Retrieve or Find the Hidden Object

If your pooch loves his toys and carries them everywhere by holding them in the mouth, you can hide the toys at the secret corners of the room. But, don’t hide them far from his site or totally out of reach. Let him hunt for his toys by saying ‘Find’ or ‘Toy.’ When he succeeds in locating or retrieving the toy, treat him and praise him. Just beware of not praising him when he bring toys and other stuff in his mouth without your command. It will tone down his interest with time.

Have fun with your Cocker Spaniel by staying consistent with the rewards and punishments. You can teach him further jumping, staying and following tricks after he learns these seven basic tricks.