If your dog likes to jump up, you may find it easy to teach your dog how to dance!
I’m currently working on this trick with my Lally — she is a boxer mix who lives up to the “boxer” part of her heritage. When someone comes to the door, she likes to jump up and “box” them in greeting. I’d love it if she only did that sort of thing on command!
The advantage of dancing on command is that it becomes a replacement behavior for jumping up. Many dogs who learn to dance don’t end up putting as much (or any) weight onto the person they are dancing with — so nobody is at risk of being knocked down.
The downside is that if you do want to use this as a replacement behavior (like I do with Lally) you have to work on the trick WHILE the dog is excited and jumping around. That makes it a little harder to practice regularly. You may need to make your practice times coincide with your return from work or other daily errands you may leave the house for.
Here’s what you do:
- Pick a time when the dog is excited and jumping around.
- Say whatever command you’ve chosen — “dance” is a good one. With Lally, I’m telling her “up here” and patting my chest. I’d like her to learn to do the trick for either the verbal command or the hand signal.
- Grab her legs and lift them up.
- Hold for a moment.
- Place her gently back on the ground and give praise and/or treats.
- Repeat. Practice. Be patient. Be positive!
So far, Lally really isn’t sure that I want her to jump up when I say “up here”. That’s probably because I’ve spent so much time avoiding her boxing and/or trying to stop her from jumping up. But we still have fun trying!
Small dogs are often able to dance on their back legs without a human for support. I’m not sure Lally’s ever going to be doing the trick without me, but you never know!