“Leap” is a fun trick to teach your dog, and one that impresses your friends and family. Just be careful not to teach your dog to leap too early or make puppy do it too many times, because this may hurt your doggie. Teaching a puppy younger than six months to jump or leap is not a good idea, as it is unhealthy for him, and causes hip problems later on. Teaching a dog over six months to leap is fine, but please refrain from having him do it too much, since his hips/legs will become sore.
Clicker Method
Throughout the entire tricks section, I use the clicker method for training dogs. The clicker method, in my opinion, is the best method available to use, because it enables the dog to know exactly what it is being treated for. Also, the clicker method lets children and multiple people train the animal, making it incredibly "user friendly." For more on this, please see THE CLICKER METHOD.
What You'll Need
To teach your dog to leap, you’ll need a few things:
Clicker
Treats
A couple of chairs
Your Touch Stick
The Need To Know
When you’ve got all of this together, lay the touch stick on the ground. Click/treat when your dog crosses perpendicular to the touch stick. Have him do this a few more times. Then, raise the stick a little bit with the bottom of one of the chairs. Tell him to step across the stick. Click/treat generously when he does. Again, repeat this several times so he knows that he’s getting treats for stepping over the stick. Then raise the stick a little higher, so that it‘s even with the other end of the stick. Click/treat when your dog steps over the stick and repeat a few times. When your dog is stepping over the stick even when you‘re not telling him to, (which means he‘s getting excited), or when you think your dog gets the idea that he needs to step over the stick, raise the stick to the seat part of one of the chairs. Click and treat, and say “Leap” when he leaps over it. After he’s done that about five times, raise the other end of the stick to the seat of the chair. Still say “Leap” when your dog leaps over the stick propped up to the chair. After he’s done this with you for about eight times, say, “Leap” and see if he’ll do it. Award him with a click, then a jackpot. Leave your chairs and stick up and give your dog a break. Then come back later and see if he’ll do it again.
Note:
Since we have a large dog, we used the chair and the touch stick. If your dog is very small and would have a hard time jumping over a chair, substitute the chair with a couple of bricks, or having a helper hold up the other end of a stick.
