Wow, lotsa choices, if you are looking just to interest your dog and excercize his dog mind, lotsa choices. my DOG, TOO, GETS BORED with same ol tricks....his favorite part is FIGURING it all out...probably is same for your dog.
How about "Shy?" i love that one, makes folks love my dog, hee hee. Buddy seems even more charming to people when he does that one. They literally coo when he does this. There is a thread or two on this great website on that one.
Or simply, walking in circles or "spinning". I learned how to train that one from the classroom video.:msnohyes:
Uhm, walking through a hula hoop. (buddy is working on this, i made mistake when i brought hoop home--i rolled it through the house, now he is afraid of it, so don't roll it through house when he first sees it, :dognowink:ha ha! I then had to spend a week getting him comfy with the hoop...duh. My bad.).
I was surprised how difficult "Stand" was for Buddy to "get"...Took him a while, even with the clicker, cuz he stands automatically, eventually, he got it. so that might be a nice mental challenge for your dog,too. I thought THAT one would be easy, :dognowink:wasn't for Buddy.
"Bang" is wildly popular with our friends, same as lay down, only dog is tummy-up with his paws in the air. I love this one, cuz i can use it to dry his paws off.
PIcking toys out of a line by NAME is good mental challenge for my dog. I've noticed, with Buddy, if we name the toy the first time he sees it, is WAY easier, than taking a toy he is already familiar with and then trying to give it a name at that later point. Can be done, but it is harder for Buddy anyway.
Putting toys in toy box, or "Pick up!" as it is known to Buddy. Weirdly, i had thought THAT would be hard trick, but he got the idea pretty quickly. Way easier than "stand"..:msniwonder:?
"Back up" wasn't too too hard. I just caught him doing it naturally, and clicked it. I later took tip from this site, and lined up chairs along both sides, and 'forced' him to walk backwards, then began widening the chair aisle, then removed chairs altogether.
Or how about "Take a bow?" or call it "Moon 'em!" ..so dog won't think you said "down"..
Buddy is working on tilting his head to one side on cue. This is taking him a while to understand, :dogblink:so this might be another good mental challenge for your dog, too. I am currently using a squeak toy held behind my back...
Bringing objects to various family members is still Buddy's all time favorite activity. He can play this for a long time. He smiles SO big :dogbiggrin:when he has done this. He sometimes tries to start this game up on his own. Somewhere, is a thread, "Bring it to Daddy!" on how we got him to do this...
Getting his leash, or any item you choose, on cue, to bring it to you.
HI-five might be strenuous for your dog's joints...? But shake a paw is something even strangers wanna do with my dog, so it is nice he knows it.
"Targeting" is great lil trick, i use post-it notes. You can use that as a step to advance to other tricks. For targeting my hand, my word is "touch".
Card tricks aren't physically demanding, and not as hard to teach as you'd think...somewhere i posted how i got Buddy to do a card trick. Wasn't hard at all. Only took a while, becuz, i separated the steps into various tricks, trained each one for several days, then had him do the various steps all in a row= card trick!!
HAVE FUN!! LET'S KEEP THESE DOGS BUSY!!!:msngiggle: