Dog Tricks – How To Teach Your Dog To Cross Its Paws
A simple trick that you can easily teach your dog or puppy is to have it cross its paws. Many pets will do this by accident. You can easily train your dog to lie down with its paws crossed by following these simple instructions:
Step 1:
Start the exercise with your dog in the down position (of course it should already be trained to do so before attempting the ‘cross paws’ trick)
Step 2:
Now have your dog offer its paw on command. If it does not know how to respond to this command, simply reach out and grab one of its paws. Be sure to click once (using a clicker) and offer a small treat each time. It is important that your dog remains in the down position while doing this.
TIP: If it still struggles to understand how to give you its paw, simply use the treat and place it in the palm of your hand a few inches a way from one of its paws. Soon enough, it will naturally move to touch the treat that is in your hand hoping you will release the tasty snack. Be sure to click each time it taps your palm.
Step 3:
Continue having your dog offer its paw, but be sure to concentrate only on one paw at a time and do so repetitively with a click and a treat.
Step 4:
When your dog has reached the stage where you can rely on it targeting your hand with one of its paws, slowly move your hand closer to your dog’s other front paw. Now in order to offer you its paw, it must lift it up and move it over sideways in order to reach your hand.
What may happen is that it may choose to lift the opposite paw instead of continuing with the trained paw. Each time this happens, all you have to do is pull away your hand and simply ignore this response from your dog.
Step 5:
When your dog can target your hand as it has moved to the opposite side, near its other paw, quickly snap your hand back at the last second. His moved paw should now land right over the other paw and in a crossed-paw fashion. Be sure to click and offer a treat.
Step 6:
Continue repeating this training regimen and each time his paw crosses over, slowly fade your hand away so it is further from the dog. Eventually, your dog will automatically cross his paws when he sees your hand signal, and at increasingly longer distances away from you.
