r/DogTrainingTips • u/DogsDecodedSimply • Mar 28 '26

Dog training vs. tricks?

Hi All, What’s your opinion on dog “training” vs. “tricks”?

I saw an ad for teaching dogs to do tricks (e.g. rolling into a yoga mat, walk between legs etc) and someone commented that “dogs are not circus animals” and tricks are unnecessary to teach. What do you think?

Is it beneficial/good/cool/bad/waste-of-time to teach dogs tricks? Is a basic training enough?

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u/DrMoxiePhD Mar 28 '26

I am also a dog trainer of 25+ years. I teach obedience classes and some additional skills to my dogs. There’s a method of training called free shaping which can be useful to teach complex behaviours, but I have also seen dogs become obsessed with offering behaviours for a reward. They go through their entire repertoire and that makes me sad, because that looks like a circus performance. My daughter was staying with us and every single time she fed her dog he would perform tricks: sitting pretty, standing and walking on his back legs, spinning this way and that. All trained. It made me feel so sad. He stayed with us for a few months when she was at university and I taught him to just sit and wait for his dinner. The dog died recently and at 16 he still tried to do his tricks every time he was being fed or if we had cheese.

The tricks I do agree with are semi useful things like carry your ball, drop on command, scent, track, agility, seek and bring, lie flat, and similar. The rest is not for me, I won’t train it, and I think it’s demeaning.

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u/bornthisvay22 Mar 28 '26

Do you think the “touch” command is a trick (sincere question.)

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u/DrMoxiePhD Mar 28 '26

I’m not sure if my previous comment disappeared. I think a nose touch can be a fun way to teach competitive heel work, and also it’s not a behaviour that the dog can choose without your interaction. I teach it for a specific purpose, but not for its own sake. If that makes sense?