According to Kentucky.com, it is really good for your dog to learn new tricks.

“Probably the biggest reason dogs misbehave is they don’t get enough exercise or mental stimulation,” says Teresa Hanula of A Dog’s World Dog Training & Pet Care in Fairfax, Va., whose trick-savvy 3-year-old border collie, Leroy, has his own Web site, www.theamazingleroy.com. “A half-hour of training can tire them out more than hour at a dog park. And it helps them learn how to learn.”

Another advantage to trick training is that owners get less hung up on obedience, says Gerilyn Bielakiewicz, author of The Only Dog Tricks Book You’ll Ever Need. “It’s a lot more lighthearted, and people don’t expect their dog to do it, so they’re kinder and more generous with reinforcements — which is how we should be all the time.”

(Sorry, the article is no longer online.)

I admit that I don’t do this enough. But it makes a lot of sense to me. Dogs can get bored doing and seeing the same things all the time. Their brains need exercise as well as their bodies.

I think it would be fun to teach my dogs tricks, too. They could show off for my friends and get a lot of attention. And the training that I would be doing, to get the dogs to learn the tricks, would be a fun activity and a good way of bonding with them.

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