Greetings

[John E.]

Hello everybody.
I'm John, my Golden Retriever name is Andie, she's 6 years old and she's my first Golden Retriever.
So far we've had a great time together but I was looking to learn a few tricks to teach her, it would be a nice way to spend the summer.

[McMegan]

Hey John,
Glad you're having such a great time with Andie.
Tricks are great fun and a really nice way to strengthen the bond between you and your dog. Although, really, we say "It's all tricks!" because "tricks" implies that training is fun, positive and uplifting for both ends of the leash. This is when we train, not when we're frustrated, stressed, tired or grumpy.

But some tricks are more fun than others. What does she know so far? Sometimes you can build on things she can already do.

A few good tricks with practical applications:
Shake
High Five
Wave
-all three of the above are great because they get your dog used to someone handling her paws, which is very useful at the groomer and vet-

Play Dead/Gotcha/Bang: from a down, ask the dog to roll all the way onto her side. This is a great trust-building one because it's a very vulnerable position for a dog to take. See if you can build her up until she'll "play dead" at the vet's office! Now there's true trust in a stressful situation.

Catch: throw a treat or ball in the air; this teaches your dog to open her mouth on cue, which also comes in handy at the vet

Spin: work on one direction, then the other. Most dogs have a stronger side (but some are "ambi-dog-strous"!); this is great to help dogs who don't like hands above their heads, since most people automatically want to pat dogs on the head (and almost all dogs hate this).

"Where's Waldo": Dogs generally don't like to go under things. This one develops your dog's confidence and trust in you because you're asking her to come between your legs and sit, gazing (adoringly) up at you. Paul Owens' DVD has a great demonstration of this one.

"Weave": I'm too short for this one, but if you have long legs or a small dog, you can take "Where's Waldo" up a notch and teach your dog to weave between your legs as you walk. Mostly this is done via luring with a treat, and rewarding incremental progress. Youtube has hilarious videos!

Back Up: two ways to teach this one. 1)Simply walk straight towards your dog while saying "Back up" - they will automatically take a step back. Click and reward. Then build up to two steps. Etc. or 2) Tell your dog "leave it" and place a treat on the ground. Reward when they move backwards from the treat. This is very incremental - their first backwards movement may only be one paw, or a shift in weight, or a head motion. Capture with a click and reward!

"Touch" is a great targeting exercise - this is the first step in teaching dogs all sorts of useful behaviors like turning off the lights ("Touch" the light switch), picking up the paper, or opening the fridge and bringing you a canned drink! There are a lot of great googlable techniques, particularly the "post-it note" touch. YouTube has a million demos.

You might also check out Doggie Freestyle, also known as "Dancing with your Dog": some very fancy footwork there!
Alternatively, if that's a bit too hokey for you, look into some beginning agility classes - they're lots of fun, great exercise, and really teach your dog to focus on you.

Most importantly: Take A Bow (or "Curtsey")! After you've taught all these tricks, you'll want Andie to be able to take a bow for her brilliant performance. With your dog in a stand, bring the treat between her front legs so that she has to bend her elbows in order to get the treat. If the treat is too close to you (and not far enough between her legs), she'll just lie down. Lure this while saying the cue (Take a bow), then after several repetitions stand in front of her and repeat the cue (perhaps while bowing yourself) once, then let her figure it out. Reward incrementally - most dogs may only bend their elbows a little, or might only look at the ground the first time. Build it up to a full-fledged, beautiful ovation!

Cheers!
Megan