Tips

GROOMING
If the thought of grooming your dog brings to mind vivid images of your K-9 friend careening
through the house, breaking nick nacks and terrorizing the cat along the way, try this nifty trick
to keep him occupied while you groom him:
1. Tape a piece of paper to the wall at your dog's nose level.
2. Rub peanut butter on the paper.
3. Have your brushes etc. nearby.
4. Call your pooch. Give him a treat when he comes.
5. While he licks the peanut butter off, say "stand" and brush gently. Offer lots of praise as
you do.
6. Quit while you're ahead. Keep initial grooming times short and gradually increase.
Eventually your dog will come to love being brushed.

  Tricks

GO TO SLEEP
Your dog needs to know the commands "down" and "stay" to perform this trick.
1. Give command "down". Kneel and rub your dog's belly until she is calm.
2. Gently roll your dog onto her side and give the command "stay". If she lifts her
head, gently rest it back on the floor and give the command "stay".
3. When your dog cooperates, start introducing the trick command "go to sleep".

  The first thing you need to do is teach your dog to pay attention. She is paying attention when she looks you in the eye despite distractions. This is an exercise in itself, and for me, the foundation I build all others from.
    I will start a new exercise with food reward, unless a dog is just crazy over food. Usually though, you can find a food that a dog will work for, but not necessarily rip your hand off over. So find that balance.  
   Bend slightly over the dog, with the food just out of reach and slightly back of her head. She will want to see where it went. Most dogs just naturally sit out of the need to follow your hand. Repeat "sit" while doing this. When the dog does sit, say "good sit" in a nice tone and give her the food, still slightly over her head, don't make her reach forward and get out of position. Some dogs try to turn around to follow your hand, just keep positioning your body in front of her, while nicely telling her to sit. Eventually she will tire of turning.
       Be calm. A lot of dogs need to do a lot of wrong things before they calm down enough to start to think. Don't chatter at her. Give the dog the room to think this through. The one-word "sit" coupled with no food until the dog does sit, may take time initially, especially in older dogs trained in stronger ways. They need to de-stress and realize there is no punishment in LEARNING. Puppies learn this way very quickly.
       Repeat this 10-12 times at a "sitting"(sorry, couldnąt resist) and as you see the light bulb come on, start to give food less and less, and reward with a "good sit!". Don't over praise and get her to break the sit. If she does, just re-do it, you need to find the level of verbal and patting praise that will work, and food.                     Remember to ask for the sit when you have eye contact. Remember to use your release word when the exercise is over (make sure it ends on a happy note), DON"T over praise when you are done! Why should she work when all the praise is at the release???
            Practice attention training when you feed, let her outside, inside etc.