# Best trick for a German Shepherd?



## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I want to teach Bianca some tricks, but I was wondering what everything thinks would be the best or the cutest trick for a German Shepherd to know? 


I had an idea for a cute trick where basically I would ask Bianca if she knows different languages (like "Parlez vous francais?") and then finally ask her if she knows German... I had two ideas for this: either have her not respond until I ask her in German (not sure what her response would be though, a bark?) OR teach her to do different things when I ask about other languages such as Japanese she could bow, French she could roll on her back, Spanish she could do something else (maybe pretend to sleep- 'siesta')


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## Deejays_Owner (Oct 5, 2005)

I really like Melanie's trick!!!



> Originally Posted By: IliamnasQuest I had made up a bunch of cards - aces and kings and queens - and put them on little stands so they stood upright for everyone to see. I'd put my dog on a stay with her back to the audience, have an audience member pick which card I would have the dog find, and then while I was holding that card I'd have someone put out all the other cards (on the floor). Then I'd have another audience member tell me where to put the card I'd been holding (and, of course, the only card scented by me!).
> 
> Then I'd tell the audience to really think hard of which card my dog was to find, and I'd send Kylee (a chow) out to find the card. As she dropped her nose to sniff each card, it appeared that she was looking at the card .. and when she'd pick up the correct card, the audience would go wild! It was so funny .. even adults were fooled at times.
> 
> ...


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## PipiK (May 25, 2009)

Two of my old girls...one Shepherd and a Black Lab....used to do the "bang bang" trick. It was hilarious. I would point my finger at them, say "bang bang" and they would fall to the floor and roll over on their backs or sides and play dead.


Another Shepherd/Husky mix I had would bring his empty dinner bowl over to me when he was finished with his dinner.

Right now I'm thinking of teaching something similar to my two young Shepherds, only with a twist...I want to get them to carry a little metal bowl around and "beg" for treats (on command)


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Chicago Canine - I like the idea of different languages and different responses .. interesting! I did teach Khana to shake her head "no" (back and forth) when I would ask her "whatdya think?". Most of the time I'd say "should I give this treat to Trick? Whatdya think?" and she'd shake her head no, then I'd ask if I should give the treat to another one of the dogs, etc. until I said "well, what about Khana?" and she'd bark and get the treat. So I used a little bit of a command for the "no" parts, and then taught her to bark on the "well" command. Something like that might work for your languages trick.

Brian - I hope you get a chance to use that trick! It was really fun and also funny to see how many people could NOT figure out how my dog knew which card to bring. I thought it would be obvious to adults .. *L* .. I remember one year, several months after we'd performed at the fair, I ran into a lady at a friend's house and she said "hey, you're the one that had your dogs at the fair! I figured out the card trick, she was SMELLING the cards!". This woman was so proud that she'd figured it out ... *L* .. I didn't ask her how long it took!

I love doing tricks with my dogs. In all honesty, they're just behaviors, like sit, down, stay etc. are behaviors. Everything we teach our dogs helps us communicate better.

Chicagocanine - it will be neat to see how your trick turns out!

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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