Learning tricks is about much more than entertaining friends. Every cue, game, and shared success gives you another way to communicate with your dog—and every positive interaction helps strengthen the bond you share.

Olean Kennel Club’s Bonding Through Trick Teaching classes turn training time into focused fun. Dogs and handlers learn creative, confidence-building tricks while exploring techniques such as luring, shaping, capturing, and rewarding behavior. Whether you want an enjoyable weekly activity, new ways to engage your dog, or the opportunity to work toward an AKC Trick Dog title, these classes are designed to help you learn, laugh, and grow together.

What You’ll Learn

Trick teaching gives handlers practical tools for helping dogs understand new behaviors while encouraging creativity and problem-solving. The specific tricks vary by class and level, but every session focuses on making learning clear, rewarding, and enjoyable for both ends of the leash.

You'll learn how to:

• Break complex tricks into simple, achievable steps
• Use luring, shaping, capturing, and reinforcement effectively
• Build value in verbal cues, hand signals, and body language
• Recognize and reward your dog’s progress
• Adapt teaching techniques to suit your individual dog
• Combine previously learned behaviors into more advanced tricks
• Prepare eligible tricks for AKC Trick Dog title testing

Skills You’ll Build

Bonding Through Trick Teaching helps dogs and handlers build skills that extend far beyond the individual tricks. Along the way, you’ll develop:

• Stronger communication and teamwork
• Greater confidence and enthusiasm for learning
• Improved focus and engagement
• Better timing and reinforcement skills
• Creative problem-solving
• Mental enrichment for dogs of every age
• A closer bond built through play, patience, and shared success

What to Bring

Come ready to reward creativity, celebrate progress, and have fun with your dog. For class, please bring:Plenty of small, soft, high-value treats

• A leash and flat buckle collar or well-fitted harness
• Water and a bowl
• A crate and option crate cover, some crates are available at the club
• Any props or training items requested by the instructor