Maybe I used the word "need" lightly but it is certainly a great method to stimulate your dog mentally, if the owner and dog find it fun what's the problem?

I personally would not want a dog trained to the degree that they are robotic but I know a lot of peopleand their dogs enjoy obedience at the highest level. I prefer to teach Honey things she will enjoy like various challenges with searching and finding things that are hidden or our latest one to get her to fetch the post. Doing these sorts of things gives her all the mental stimulation she needs.

As she is a P.A.T dog she is not allowed to perform tricks like paw or high 5 as she could easily injure someone. She was taught them by her previous family (its all they did teach her ) and trying to unteach them has been a nightmare. I have to say I do not agree with them being taught, especially by family's with children or elderly relatives who may have leg problems.

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HONEY - GOLDEN RETRIEVER X WHITE GSD - 2006 -

Sending love to our beloved ones now playing together over the rainbow bridge.

ZAC - Black GSD - 1978 to 1991
TARA - Black and Tan GSD - 1981 to 1995
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Knowing a ridiculous amount of tricks is a side effect of keeping my bright monkey out of mischief, of taking her to innumerable classes so she could build confidence in a controlled environment and of simply having fun together. I would have gone starking raving mad if all we had done was the basics.

There is no way on god's green earth she would do any of it without it being fun to her being a beagle she simply isn't wired that way. Sit stay spin twist etc etc it's all tricks to her.

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Doing his little batch of 'tricks' is basically guaranteed to get Freddie out of a shy/scared moment and he really comes out of his shell.
Seeing him with a little burst of confidence doesn't seem demeaning to me.

How many pet Collies do you see herding?

How many Terriers are allowed to rat?

How many Chinese Cresteds do you see on boats?

How many Poodles do you see working behind the gun?

How many Rotties do you see herding the bulls and cows to the butchers?

How many Bulldogs do you see bringing down bulls?

Of course it's to replace the natural instinct, as is agility,obedience, flyball, bikejoring, rigging every dog event we take part in.

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I have to disagree I'm afraid , I love teaching murphy tricks and imo we both get a lot out of it.

He is a terrier cross so bred for killing small animals which I'm not going to encourage and I feel he needs something to do to stimulate him mentally , he enjoys doing his tricks (for the food and the attention!) and I never force him to do anything he's free to walk away if he pleases.

As long as the dog isn't abused to do something and beaten if it doesn't and is happy to co-operate I don't see the problem?

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The dog doesn't really know the difference between "sit" etc or a trick. They are all tricks to the dog really - the only purpose the dog assigns to these actions is gaining a reward. He doesn't know that lie down and wait is useful and roll-over is supercilious fun. He just wants his sausage.

Also my dog licks his own willy in company and licks other dogs' willies at any given opportunity and up until about 4 months ago would frequently wet himself with excitement at meeting people and other dogs. I don't think he has much of a concept of something being "demeaning".

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If the command is given a signal, then I don't see why it can't be taught.

Ollie does a very impressive Wave (seen in the video below)


And I have a signal for that, which is a raised hand with treat in it with the command. Now, he knows when we are doing trick training, and he has never done Wave under any other conditions. We have young children come to the house, and he certainly doesn't paw at them, as my signal from me isn't shown to him nor do I say the command. Dogs don't generalize, so a child putting up a raised hand isn't going to get him to Wave.

And can I just ask, does anyone think Ollie is feeling demeaned and humilated by being asked to do tricks for his human owner, from the evidence of his behaviour from the video?

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Interesting debate as I have a puppy and I can understand both sides of the argument. Personally, I would not want Boo to roll-over or sit up and beg but I do want her to learn to basic obedience; tracking; gun-dog skills; basic household tasks etc simply because I want to give her challenges that make her feel that she is earning her way/contributing to the family...Some of my friends say that I shouldn't try any sort of training until she is older However, she does seem to like games like hide & seek; fetch; tidying toys into her box etc so I do play them with her. She'd get bored otherwise I think and end up chasing the cat

But doesn’t interaction require engagement from both parties? I don’t consider taking a dog to the park to go do his own thing while I chat away on my phone to be much of an interaction. Nor is the dog sleeping on the sofa next to me while I watch tv interacting with me at any meaningful level.

When the dogs and I train though, we are interacting much as two friends who are having a great conversation. We are engaged with each other, we are paying attention to each other. We are communicating and enjoying each other’s company. It makes me sad that so many folks have not experienced training to be this way....