Dog Tricks - How To Teach Your Dog To Cross His Legs
An easy and entertaining trick that you can quickly teach your White German shepherd dog or puppy is to have him cross his legs. Most pets will do this naturally and it always leads to a smile on my face when I see this cute sitting posture. You can easily train your dog to lie down and look sophisticated with its legs crossed by following these basic instructions:
Step 1: Start the process with your dog lying down (assuming he is already trained to do so before trying the 'cross legs' trick)
Step 2: Now have your dog give you one of his paws when you tell him too. If he doesn't understand how to respond to this command yet, simply reach out and take one of his paws in your hand. Be sure to sound the clicker once and offer a small reward every time. It is imperative that your dog remains lying down while performing this trick.
TIP: If your dog continues to have difficulty understanding how to give you his paw, simply use the reward, placed in the palm of your hand, close to one of his paws. Within moments, he will instinctively reach for the treat that is in your hand in an effort to have you release the delicious snack. Make sure to click every time he reaches for your hand.
Step 3: Continue to have your dog offer his paw, while opting to focus on only on one paw at a time and do so while continuing to sound the clicker and offering a reward.
Step 4: Once your dog has gotten to the stage where you can trust him to select your hand with one of his paws, begin to move your hand closer to your dog's other front paw. Now in his effort to give you his paw, he must raise it up and move it across in order to be able to reach your hand.
What may occur is that your dog he may opt to lift his alternate paw instead of offering the trained paw. Every time this takes place, simply pull away your hand and refuse to acknowledge this reaction from your dog.
Step 5: The training is almost complete. Once your dog can target your hand as it has placed on the opposite side, close to his other paw, quickly pull your hand back at the very last moment. The paw in motion will now land directly over his other paw and in a crossed-legged manner. Don't forget to affirm this behavior by utilizing the clicker and offering a reward.
Step 6: Continue repeating this training program and every time his paws cross, slowly pull your hand away so it is farther away from the dog. Soon enough, your dog will naturally cross his legs when he sees you motion with your hand, and at ever greater distances away from you.