Begging is a cute dog trick that is moderately easy to train a dog to do. With a little patience on your part, your dog will soon be sitting up to beg on command.

What You Need

Have a handful of your dog's favorite treats ready when you begin training him to beg. If you are clicker training, have your clicker handy, too.

Here's How to Do It

1. Start training a dog to do this dog trick by asking him to sit. If your dog isn't able to sit on command, go back and work on the sit command before moving on to step 2.
   
   

1. With your dog in a sitting position, hold a treat at his nose, and give him the command "beg."
   
   
2. As your dog reaches to take the treat in his mouth, slowly raise the treat over his head so that he'll have to reach up to get it. Pull it up until he is sitting on his hind end with his paws off the floor, and held in front of him in the begging position.
   
   
3. As soon as your dog is in the begging position, tell him "good" or click your clicker, and give him a treat.
   
   
4. Repeat these steps several times each day for short training sessions. It won't be long until your dog is begging on command.
   
   

Training in Stages

Some dogs won't go into the begging position during the very first training session. In this case, you may need to train a dog to beg in smaller steps. This type of training is referred to as shaping. The clicker can be very useful in shaping a behavior. Here's how to do it:

1. Begin with your dog sitting.
   
   
2. Hold a treat in front of your dog's nose, and give him the command "beg."
   
   
3. Slowly move the treat up so your dog will have to stretch his nose up in the air to reach it.
   
   

1. As soon as your dog lifts his nose in the air, click your clicker or tell him "good," and give him a treat.
   
   
2. Repeat this step several times until your dog is raising his nose in the air every time you give him the beg command.
   
   
3. Next, set the bar a little higher. Only click and treat when his nose goes in the air and one of his paws comes slightly off the ground. Repeat this until he is doing it consistently every time you give the beg command.
   
   
4. Keep choosing behaviors that bring your dog closer to getting into the begging position. Practice each new behavior until your dog is doing it each time you give the beg command. In this way, you'll slowly train your dog to sit up and beg.
   
   
5. Once your dog has successfully sat up to beg several times in a row, you should only click and treat when your dog gets into that position on command. Practice the beg command for a few minutes several times each day.
   
   

Troubleshooting

1. If your dog makes a mistake more than two or three times in a row at any stage in the training process, go back to an earlier step. Practice that step until your dog your dog is always doing it correctly, and then begin moving slowly ahead in the training once again.