Which dogs can learn to drink from a cup?

If you’ve been trying out trick dogging with your dog for a while, you probably have a whole range of tricks up your sleeve. How wonderful it is that there are so many fantastic tricks to explore. Drinking from a cup on your signal is an incredibly funny and cute stunt that will surely delight everyone. Training this trick is also a lot of fun, and everyone can participate, as it doesn’t involve physical activities, allowing dogs with health issues to join in the mental exercise.

How do I teach my dog to drink from a cup?

First, find a quiet room where you and your dog can practice undisturbed. Have some small training treats ready. Using a clicker can be helpful for this trick, as it allows you to precisely reinforce your dog’s correct behavior. If you haven’t used a clicker before, start by conditioning this training tool. It’s straightforward. Your dog is close to you. Now, click once and immediately give your dog a treat. So, your dog doesn’t need to show a specific behavior initially but just needs to understand the principle of clicking. You click once and give a treat. Repeat this until you are confident your dog has learned: Click = Treat.

Step 1

Once the clicker is successfully conditioned, you can begin with the actual trick. Take a cup and fill it with tap water. Some dogs are very curious. It might happen that your dog immediately takes a “sip” from the cup; in that case, click and reward right away. Fantastic—celebrate him enthusiastically!

If your dog is skeptical and refuses to drink, you can trick him by adding some broth to the water, sausage water, or even a bit of tuna in its own juice—whatever your dog prefers. If he takes a taste, click, reward, and rejoice immediately. As soon as your dog brings his snout to the cup and takes a sip with his tongue, click. Your dog will expectantly pause and accept his reward.

While other tricks usually involve a training step aiming to prolong the desired behavior, it’s good for this trick that the dog stops after a sip. Several repetitions are needed per training session, so don’t overdo it at this point.

Step 2

In the next step, introduce a verbal cue that your dog can associate with the desired behavior. Every time before you point to the cup or hold it out—your dog can also associate the gesture as a nonverbal signal—say your cue (such as “Cheers,” “Thirsty?” “Drink,” or any other fun or fitting term). Since your dog is likely naturally inhibited from drinking too much, it makes sense to do this exercise with him only occasionally with few repetitions but daily.

Step 3

By this step, repetitions work well if you have “enhanced” the water or encouraged your dog. By now, he has probably internalized the principle of what you want from him when you offer him the cup and say your cue (like “Drink”). Try repeating the process calmly with plain water without flavor.