Fun Dog Tricks
Teaching your dog how to balance a ball on his nose is a pretty cool trick to show your friends. We all know this isn’t an easy task. It takes so much effort to train your dog to do almost anything, right? Many people think it requires magic, which is not far from the truth when it comes to very complicated tricks, but if you pay attention to your dog’s reactions and carefully observe his behavior you will succeed! Gordon from Parking Lot Striping Tyler has trained his dog this cool trick, so we asked him to share a few tips for us on how to train your dog to balance a ball on his nose.
There are many tips that can make this an easy task both for you and for your dog. One of the first things on your mind should be the younger your dog is when you start teaching this trick, the better. Although it is possible to achieve good results with older dogs too, but it might take much more of your time and effort.
Before starting, make sure your dog can obey basic commands like “sit” for example. This is enough for the beginning. After your dog is seated you can take a tennis ball and try to put it on his nose even for just for a moment. To remove the ball, say “OK” and give your dog a treat. It is very important to praise your dog and his effort even after the ball was on his nose only for a second or two.
This may be very helpful since your dog will probably be surprised by this “new game” and an object on his nose. It will be a strange situation and he needs to feel comfortable. So don’t save your words of praise and also cuddle your dog as much as possible. It will make him understand that he is doing something that you want, that he is behaving well and that he will be rewarded because the prize he gets afterward is the best motivation.
After you’ve tried it once, don’t hesitate to try again. Bear in mind that it is very important to remember that every time you need to wait longer before you say “OK” to your dog as a confirmation that he did something well. The fourth or the fifth time the ball could stay on its nose for as many as 5 – 10 seconds! That is a great progress and let your dog know how you are proud of him.
Don’t fall in despair if you don’t succeed the first time since it will largely depend on your dog’s attention span. Some dogs might get tired of it and it may be impossible to do it more than two or three times in a row and that is ok. You can always take a break from this game and go for a walk or let your dog run around or rest. After a couple of hours you can try again and keep in mind you should be very patient. But really, I mean patient. If your dog doesn’t get it well for several times in a row that doesn’t mean you should give up! You need to be persistent in order to achieve this! It is very important for you to remember that you should work together with your dog in a team. Only in this way you may achieve desired results.
So practice, especially repetition are key to learning every trick, I hope it will help you with this one too! We hope you enjoyed this article. As always feel free to reach out to us with questions, and also please reach out to Gordon at Tyler Parking Lot Striping if you have any paving needs or dog training questions.