One of them is to crawl or creep on the floor, a movement that is not natural for dogs, but they can learn in a very simple way with a little work and some treats.
He must first learn some previous commands
We cannot begin to teach the command "crawl" without first having memorized some previous commands, such as sit and stay, which are even easier to teach, especially if we do it when they are puppies.
However, an adult dog can also learn them, as well as crawling, although it will cost us a little more and we must be more patient, repeating the sessions and making them a little shorter.
How to teach your dog to crawl?
We have to go to a quiet place where the animal has no distracting stimuli, like a room in the house, our garden, a park without many people, etc.
There we give him the order to sit and then to stay still. Immediately, and without waiting too long so as not to tire the dog, what we have to do is to direct him to the floor.
We can do this in several ways, either with the command "lie down" if he knows it, although it is more spectacular if he does it from the sitting position, so when he is already like that we show him a treat that we will not give him if he gets up.
Calling his attention, we make him look at his favorite snack and move him to the floor, expecting him to lie down on his own, but we won't give him the prize because we want him to crawl.
As a result, we must move away from him while showing him the treat.If he crawls on the floor we say "crawl" and then we reward him.
This has to be repeated several times without tiring him, starting again the next day until he starts to crawl when we ask him to, always giving him his reward if he does it well, at the right moment, which is when he starts to crawl.
The clicker can be useful, a tool that is nothing more than a plate that makes a sound, after which we reward him. It is widely used in positive training, because the dog associates the "click" to a stimulus and will be aware of the clicker, which helps him to be focused on the training and not to be distracted by anything.
It may be a little difficult at first
At the beginning it may be a little difficult to make him crawl, since he will get up and come running when we show him the reward, which should not be given in this case.
As he does it badly, our dog will realize that it is not what we expect from him, so he will start crawling towards us, first maybe a little bit and getting up, although he will understand it as soon as he does it a couple of times and receives his reward.
Depending on the breed it will be more difficult to assimilate it, but it is not a complicated exercise and any dog can do it if we try.
Read also: TREATS FOR HAPPY & HEALTHY DOGS
When the dog already crawls without failing in most of the occasions, which means that he has the trick under control, we can go a step further and complicate it.
To do this, what we have to do is to add distance when we give the command. This means that we ask him to sit and stay still, we move a few meters away and then we order him to crawl.
With that, what we get is that the distance he crawls close to the ground is increasing, making the trick more spectacular, but always with caution and letting him do it only for a few meters, because we don't want our dog to get hurt.
After a while, it will not be necessary to give him a treat, although it is convenient to do it from time to time and congratulate him effusively, give him his favorite toy, etc., so that the dog understands that we are very happy with what he has done.
Besides showing off, teaching him this trick will serve to keep his head busy, since there are several breeds that need it, such as sheepdogs and all those that are very active.
In many occasions, some of these dogs end up in shelters because their owners do not know how to give them what they need, which is nothing more than spending time with them and teaching them tricks of this kind, with which the animals enjoy and occupy their brains learning.
We can complicate it a bit by giving the order from a distance
When the dog already crawls without failing in most of the occasions, which means that he has the trick under control, we can go a step further and complicate it.
To do this, what we have to do is to add distance when we give the command. This means that we ask him to sit and stay still, we move a few meters away and then we order him to crawl.
With that, what we get is that the distance he crawls close to the ground is increasing, making the trick more spectacular, but always with caution and letting him do it only for a few meters, because we don't want our dog to get hurt.
After a while, it will not be necessary to give him a treat, although it is convenient to do it from time to time and congratulate him effusively, give him his favorite toy, etc., so that the dog understands that we are very happy with what he has done.
It serves to keep his head busy
Besides showing off, teaching him this trick will serve to keep his head busy, since there are several breeds that need it, such as sheepdogs and all those that are very active.
In many occasions, some of these dogs end up in shelters because their owners do not know how to give them what they need, which is nothing more than spending time with them and teaching them tricks of this kind, with which the animals enjoy and occupy their brains learning.