teaching dogs multiple behaviors at once

Perhaps you have an idea ub tiyr gead of what to teach your dog next. A checklist, if you will: sit, stay, down, roll over, speak, spin...those are just some ideas. You might try to order which command you should teach first and what you should teach last. You'll be surprised (and delighted? Maybe?) to learn dogs can learn multiple commands or tricks at once without getting confused out of their minds.

Let me explain. First of all, many tasks are related so teaching shake and high five at the same for example might actually be easier than teaching them at two separate times. Teaching lie down and roll over together might not be such a bad idea either. It's the same with sit and stay. See where I'm headed? Dogs are smarter than we give them credit for and teaching more than one command at once could help them learn their cue for each task better. If a dog realizes the cue for shake and high five are different all at once, he'll be more likely to be reliable with your cues in the future.

I've taught one of the dogs I walk, a small terrier mix, wave and high five at the same time without an issue. I've taught him the cue to jump up on something and jump down at the same time. Even with more advanced tricks that take many days just for the foundation to be laid down, I've taught a few unrelated commands throughout the same period of time. I continue to teach that little dog tricks while we still work on footstalls after many months of on and off training.

Many behaviors are linked and teaching different tasks at once could be mentally fulfilling to your canine pal. It's also quicker for you and you can learn that everything doesn't have to laid out and planned too perfectly. It's important to make sure you practice skills on their own often, even once your dog has mastered them. Your pup is smarter than you think!