Teaching your dog some easy dog tricks is a great way to strengthen the bond you already have. Dogs love interacting with us in any way. Besides, learning new tricks is a great way to give dogs some much needed mental stimulation. Besides, many of the tricks in this post build up from basic commands your dog probably already knows.

Grab onto some of your dog’s favorite treats and let’s jump right into these seven fun tricks you can easily teach your dog and later show off to your friends. Note that you can pick whichever verbal cue you want as long as you stick to the same term each and every time.

1. Teach your dog to shake hands

This is one of the easiest tricks (if not the easiest) to teach your dog. All your dog needs to know is to sit on command. To teach this trick you’ll need to:

  • Have your dog sit in front of you
  • Say “shake hands” and take one of your dog’s paws with your hand
  • Hold on to the paw and praise your pup either verbally or with a treat
  • Let go of the paw
  • Repeat

After some repetitions, you’ll want to start by only saying “shake hands” and holding out your hand. Don’t take your dog’s paw and see if your dog raises it. If not, keep following the directions above.

2. Teach your dog to wave

This trick is a variation of the “shake hands” so you’ll need to teach your dog that trick first. That’s because you’ll want your dog to do the same action of lifting the paw to wave.

  • So after teaching your dog the shake hands command, you’ll need to:
  • Hold out your hand as you do for the “shake hands” command
  • When your dog lifts the paw to shake, pull back your hand and say “wave”
  • Praise your dog
  • Repeat

This may be confusing for your dog at first and it’s possible that your dog won’t lift its paw very high. But after a while, your dog will realize that the higher the paw is raised, the bigger the chances of getting a treat.

3. Teach your dog to high five

Dog practicing an easy dog trick

This easy dog trick builds up from the previous two tricks. It can be a great way to redirect some bad behavior if your dog tends to paw at you for attention.

  • If your dog already nails the “shake hands” this is going to be easy. All you need is to:
  • Teach your dog to touch your hand with his paw whenever you say “high five”
  • With every repetition, slowly move your hand higher and higher until it turns into a high five

Pretty simple, right?

4. Teach your dog to take a bow

Although this is an easy trick as your dog naturally bows when stretching, it does require some patience and good timing. To turn your dog’s natural stretching into a trick you’ll need to start by:

  • Catch your dog stretching and immediately say “bow”
  • Praise your dog
  • Repeat every time you catch your dog taking a bow to stretch

After some repetitions, your dog will take a bow on cue.

5. Teach your dog to yawn

Teaching to yawn dog trick

Much like the previous trick, this one also requires you to catch your dog in the act so you can turn it into a trick.

  • Catch your dog yawning and say the command. You can be creative and say something like “Are you tired?”
  • Praise your dog
  • Repeat every time you catch your dog yawning

This can take some time but eventually, the command will trigger your dog to yawn.

6. Teach your dog to spin

For this trick, you’ll need to load up on treats and practice regularly. To teach your dog how to spin you’ll need to:

  • First, lure your dog by giving a treat and showing the second one
  • Say “spin” and use the second treat to slowly guide your dog to spin
  • Give your dog the treat at the end of the spin
  • Repeat

It’s that easy! The only thing is that it requires some practice for your dog to get it. You can even make this harder and include directions like “spin right” and “spin left”.

7. Teach your dog to back up

The “back up” trick can be an especially useful one whenever you want your dog to back away from something you don’t allow your pooch to mess with. Some dogs can naturally learn this. But to quickly teach your dog this trick, you’ll need to:

  • Face your dog
  • Walk towards your pup while saying “Back up”
  • Your dog will naturally get out of your way and start walking backward
  • Praise your dog
  • Repeat

If at first, your dog moves to the side instead of walking backward, practice this in a narrow hallway. That way your dog won’t be able to move to the sides. With repetition, you will be able to stand still and only say “back up” for your dog to walk backward.

Making sense of it all

Teaching your dog new tricks always requires a lot of time, effort, and patience (and a substantial number of treats). But it is always worth it to show off those funny and cute tricks to your friends and to have a stronger bond with your furry best bud.