Nintendogs Trick List

Trick List
One of the primary tasks in Nintendogs is to teach your dog as many tricks as its little brain can hold. Doing so is a relatively easy process, at least when compared to dogs in the real world; if you can figure out how to touch your dog to encourage it to perform certain animations, then all you need to do is tap the trick button in the upper-right corner of the screen and say the name of the trick into the microphone.
If done correctly, you should see a number of yellow bulbs go off above your dog's head; this indicates that they registered the voice command. Note that you don't need to use a voice command that necessarily corresponds to what the trick actually is; you can even use nonsense phrases, so long as you can remember them. So long as you use the same phrase for the same trick each time you try to use it on your dog, it should be able to remember it as well.

Some tricks are more complicated than others, so don't feel frustrated if your dog can't learn everything the first day you get it.
In point of fact, it's usually better to use some kind of phrase or combination of words for your tricks instead of just using a single word. The voice recognition in Nintendogs is fair, but there are some caveats, like the way it has a hard time recognized words that begin with the letter s if you use them at the beginning of a recording. "Sit down" will sometimes come out as "it down," in other words. Anyway, to prevent overlapping command words (which can happen when you start reaching the upper limit of tricks that you're able to learn, if you're not careful about keeping the sounds distinct), you'll probably want to use phrases of two or three words instead of simple one-word commands. Doing so will help prevent command overlap and will let your dog more easily understand your commands, so long as you keep your intonation and pronunciation consistent.
Most tricks will require three or four repetitions before your dog finally learns the trick and will be able to repeat it via the voice input. Be sure to pet your dog after each time it repeats the trick to encourage it! It also helps to ensure that your dog is happy before you try to teach it tricks, especially the advanced ones. To increase your pup's happiness, feed it, clean its coat with shampoo and a brush, or take it for a walk and hope that it meets other friendly dogs on the way.
Basic Tricks
Sit Down
Sitting is the first trick you'll teach your dog; it comes along automatically early in the game, so you really can't miss it. To perform a sit, press your stylus against your dog's forehead, then quickly move it down towards their mouth. Many other tricks come out of the sit position.
Shake
To perform a shake maneuver, grab one of your dog's hands while it's sitting and lift it up so that it's just under their head, then tap on the trick button. When executed, they'll hold their hand up to the point you indicated.
Lie Down
When you have a dog that's sitting, you can repeat the sit down stylus command (hand on forehead, slide down towards its nose) to have it lie down on the ground.
Roll Over
If your dog is lying down, move your stylus across its body from right to left or left to right to make it lie on its side, then push on its belly towards its upper side to make it roll onto its back.
Spin
Place your stylus on your dog's tail and hold the tip of it for a few seconds; it should start spinning around and chasing its tail. Doing so will let you teach it the Spin command.
Beg
When your dog is standing up on all fours, touch its belly and slide your stylus upwards. It should rear up on its hind legs and effectively stand up, with both of its front paws held in the air. It takes a while for your dog to be comfortable enough with you to perform this trick; if it's not quite there yet, it'll bring both its feet up, wag them around a bit, then immediately drop them back to the ground. If it consistently does this, then you'll have to work on your relationship a bit more before you can teach it to really beg.
Play
When your dog turns around so that his butt is facing you, sticks it up in the air, and starts shaking it, then you're witness to what is known in the animal kingdom as "presenting". Overlooking the awkwardness of this gesture, you can teach your puppy to repeat it by quickly clicking on the lightbulb before it stops playing; you'll need to be quick because they don't often hold the position for long, and it's not something you can encourage them to do with your stylus. They'll do it every so often while you're playing with them, so long as they're comfortable around you. Note that this "trick" isn't necessarily required for anything, although you will need your dog to play before you can teach it to jump. You might want to just use it to teach your dog to jump, and not bother actually teaching it to your dog as an actual trick.
Jump
As mentioned, your dog has to be in the Play position before you can teach it to jump. When it's presenting its rump and wagging its tail, tap your stylus in the air above its head and it should leap off the ground. Repeat this process a few times to teach it to jump on command; when it learns how to jump it'll be able to do it from any position.
Sneeze
Tap your dog on the nose and it'll sneeze. This technically counts as a trick, but it's kind of a pointless one to learn since it doesn't really build to anything.
Advanced Tricks
Advanced tricks all come about as combinations of the basic tricks you've tought your dog. Thus, you can't just skip right to the advanced tricks and hope that your dog will be able to keep up; these tricks are unperformable unless your dog knows the basic trick "ingredients" for them.
When attempting to teach your dog these tricks, you have to be sure not to pet them after the first basic trick in the combination, or they'll think you're rewarding for performing the normal trick and won't continue to the advanced trick. If possible, use voice commands to string together these movements, and keep in mind that your dog will have to be pretty comfortable with you to perform these tricks. If you've only spent a day with your puppy, you shouldn't expect it to start breakdancing on command.
Note that this is far from a complete list of advanced tricks; there are many more in the game that require a lot of patience to learn. For a more thorough listing, check the Nintendogs page at Gamefaqs.com, and keep watching for the light bulb icon; it can appear when you least expect it!
Dance
Have your dog sit up in the Beg position, then tell it to Spin. It should hop around on its feet in one place, while holding the Beg position. Yay!
Breakdance
Similar to dance, but with a twist. Instead of Begging, you need your dog in the Roll Over position here. When it's on its back, tell it to Spin and it should do the electric boogaloo.
Ground Flip
If you have your dog Roll Over, then command it to Jump, it should flip up from the ground and land on its feet.
Backflip
Tell your dog to Sit, then immediately Jump. If you command the jump quickly enough, then the dog should do a backflip from its sitting position.
Handstand
Have your dog Lie Down, then tell it to Beg. If done correctly, it'll move its rear feet up into the air and wind up standing on its front legs!