I’m publishing my trick of the day now as I want to keep it separate to the gift guide that will be published later. At 8pm I’ll be sharing my gift guide for the dog owners so come back later for that!

But first the trick that I’m sharing is Sit Pretty, or Beg as I call it.

This is where the dog has its bottom in a sit and lifts up their front paws to balance on its bottom/back legs. It’s a really tough exercise for a dog and requires a lot of core strength.

The beg is one of the key fitness exercises we teach to agility dogs, but in actual fact it’s great for all dogs to keep them in tip top condition. Just because a dog doesn’t do a sport doesn’t meant they shouldn’t be built like an athlete.

I’ve been working on the beg with Guinness for the best part of 2 years and he still struggles with it. All dogs are different and it depends on their conformation and where their tail sits. Some breeds such as jack russells and beagles seem to literally just plonk themselves squarely on their bums with their tails propping them up! I’m sure it doesn’t quite work this way but it certainly looks like it.

I teach the beg by asking for a sit and taking a treat to their nose then ever so slowly luring their nose up and backwards. You should stand behind or at the side of your dog when you do it so that they are leaning back, as learning forward does not use the correct muscles and they won’t be able to do it.

Try encouraging your dog to lean back against you at first while they get used to it, or you can allow them to steady themselves with a paw on your arm. Then slowly you can teach them to do it independently once the dog gains in confidence.

As I said I’ve been working on this for 2 years and it should take at least a couple of months before the dog will beg and balance on their own as they’ve got to train and build their muscles to it.

Once they’ve got it though, how cute and amazing does it look!