Animal trainers [and guardians] can often focus their energy on addressing complex behavior challenges, such as reactivity, resource guarding, or separation anxiety. While resolving these issues is highly important, the continuous focus on high-stakes behavior modification can sometimes feel intense and demanding for both the human and the animal.
This is where ‘trick training’ can be incredibly valuable. Rather than being a distraction from “serious” work, trick training serves as a practical tool for sharpening mechanical skills, boosting creativity, and building confidence in a low-pressure environment.
Focusing on lighthearted behaviors allows both the learner and the trainer to practice the mechanics of reinforcement, timing, and shaping without the emotional weight often attached to behavior modification.
Engaging in trick training can help you:
Relieve Stress: It removes the pressure of “fixing” a problem, allowing both you and your animal to enjoy a cooperative, low-stakes activity.
Refine Your Skills: Teaching novel behaviors encourages you to break down training plans into small, achievable steps (approximations).
Boost Confidence: Success in teaching a fun trick builds momentum, which can carry over positively when you return to more complex training goals.
To put these concepts into practice, let’s look at an engaging behavior: the “Selfie.” This trick is recognized by organizations such as Do More With Your Dog (DMWYD) and serves as an excellent exercise in body awareness, positioning, and duration.
The animal and handler pose as if taking a photograph together. On cue, the animal moves behind the handler, places their front paws on the handler’s shoulder (facing the same direction), and looks over the handler’s shoulder toward the camera. The animal should hold this position for several seconds – long enough to realistically snap a photo.
If you would like to try teaching this behavior, here is a general framework to guide your training sessions:
Assess Safety and Physical Comfort:
Depending on the size of your animal, placing paws on your shoulder might require some assistance. Smaller dogs or other species will likely need a platform, step stool, or chair positioned behind you so they can reach your shoulder comfortably without straining.
Reward the Rear Position:
You ca start by teaching the animal to move behind you [and if needed step onto the designated platform or chair]. Reinforce generously for navigating to this position.
Target the Shoulder:
Encourage the animal to place their front paws on your back or shoulder. You can use targeting, capturing, or shaping to achieve this. Reinforce immediately when their paws make contact with your shoulder.
Build Duration:
Once the animal is comfortable placing their paws on your shoulder, gradually delay your marker by a second or two to build duration.
Introduce the Camera Cue:
Gradually introduce your phone or camera. Ensure the animal remains comfortable with you holding an object up in front of both of you, and reinforce them for looking toward the device.
Tip: If you have already trained this behavior with one animal, try teaching it to a different species or introducing a new variation to stretch your training skills.
Taking a break from intensive behavior modification to teach something cooperative and lighthearted can be highly beneficial for the partnership you share with your animal.
If you decide to work on the “Selfie” trick this week, consider filming your sessions. Sharing your progress – including the messy middle stages and the bloopers – with a training peer or community is a great way to analyze your timing and celebrate the learning process together.
Happy training!