Teaching your dog tricks
 

How do you guys teach various tricks? I'll share what has worked for me with my pup Cookie (now 19 weeks)

SIT - Hold up a small treat couple of feet above her nose so she has to look up while you say "Sit". Then huge praise and the treat when she gets it right.

COME - This one's easy. Just use a playful and excited intonation (intonation first, words later I guess when it comes to training a dog). I usually say "Come'ere" since it sounds more natural and friendly though. It's hard to say "Come" in a playful voice.

SPEAK - This one was harder than it sounds. Cookie didn't generally bark much until I taught her "Speak". The way I did it was to hold the treat, say "Speak", then stick my tongue out and make the PPPPPPPFFFFFFFLLLLLBBBBBBBBBFFFFFBBBB sound like you always see Donald Duck doing when taunting someone. That drove her nuts and got her barking, so doing that for a couple of days got "Speak" down solid.

LAY DOWN - Take the treat in one hand, bring it to the ground, say "Lay Down", and with the other hand make the paper hand (like in rock, paper, and scissors), and bring it to the ground. I found the hand signal to be really important early on, but unneeded after a week or so.

CRAWL - I have to thank Capt. Noonie for this one. Get your dog to lie down, take the treat and put it in front of his nose on the ground, and drag it along while saying "Crawl" and having your other hand on your dogs butt to keep him on the ground.

GO PEE - Take your dog to a marked spot outside, continually say "Go Pee" in the moment as they are squatting down/lifting their leg and doing their business, and then ENORMOUS praise in a really sweet and playful intonation. My favorite phrase is "You're peeing outside, just like the big girls!".

Of course, we haven't gotten this one down 100% by any stretch yet, lol. But Cook generally does make an effort to pee or poop when I give the command, though occasionally she'll squat when she doesn't have to go, I guess because she thinks it'll get her the huge praise.