A fun trick to teach your dog is to jump through your arms. The beauty of this trick is that the props required, your arms, are always available, so you can take this show on the road. This is a fun trick to entertain friends and family in your home, or new acquaintances at the dog park. If your dog can jump, he can learn to jump through a loop you make with your arms, just make sure that you hold your arms at a height your dog is comfortable jumping. Remember, some short-legged dogs cannot jump very high, or should not jump at all. Also, if you have a very large dog, and you have short arms, this might be a problem! But for most dogs and owners, this trick is pretty impressive looking, fun, and not too difficult to teach your dog!
You can teach an older dog or a young dog to jump through your arms, just make sure if you have a young dog that his bones and joints have fully developed, as jumping can be stressful on a dog, especially some giant breed dogs, that should wait until they around 2 years of age to start jumping activities.
To perform this trick, you will ask your dog to 'sit-stay', form a circle with your arms, bend down, and command your dog to 'jump'. Your dog will then run over to you and jump through the circle your arms are making, usually receiving praise and a treat afterward. This is usually not too difficult to teach, provided your dog is physically able to jump and is not too big to fit through your arm circle! There are several ways to teach this fun trick and you and your dog can be performing in no time.
To train your dog to jump through your arms, you will need treats--lots of treats! You may want to avoid feeding your dog ahead of time and use low-value treats, or use the dog food itself as a treat to teach this trick. You can also use a stick to help train this trick and extend your arm to make your circle bigger at first and easier for your dog to jump. An alternative is using a wall and a corner to help direct your dog through your arms at first. Remember to have fun and patience, and not to punish your dog for failed attempts.