Critter Corner: How to get kids involved in pet training

Dear Miss Behavin’: We would like to have our kids help with the training of our new pup. How can we make the training fun so that our kids will be more engaged and willing to participate in the training process?

Congratulations on your new family member! Kudos to you for wanting to get your kids involved! I would recommend you have them teach your new pup some tricks which are always fun and a great thing they can show off to their friends! Here are a couple easy ones to start. As always have fun!

The Shake is an easy one to teach and most dogs pick up on it quickly. With your pup in a sit, place a treat in your hand and put that just in front of their nose to keep their focus up, with the other hand lightly tap the back of one of their front paws. Once they lift up the paw, place it in your hand and mark the behavior with a yes and follow it with the treat in the other hand. Over time they will start to offer the paw more readily at which point you can then label the behavior. You can teach them a left and right paw for this one!

The Crawl is another one that most dogs pick up on quickly. With your pup in a down position, take your treat and place it at their nose and move it forward on the ground slowly away from them. They should follow by using their front paws to crawl along the floor. After a crawl or two, mark and treat. This should be done on a carpet or something with similar traction.

The Spin is another one that is fairly easy for most dogs. With your pup standing in front of you, take a treat at nose level and encourage them to follow it around in a circle creating them to spin. Once complete, mark and treat. This is another one that can be done to the left or right.

Tasha Suda is the Lead Dog Trainer for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA Behavior Department. For more information, please visit www.phs-spca.org, call 650-340-7022 or email tsuda@phs-spca.org.