Teaching Peekaboo: A Simple, Bonding-Focused Trick

What is dog peekaboo?

Also known as "middle" to some owners, peekaboo has your dog walk around behind you, sit, and poke their head through your legs, the "peekaboo" moment. It's a simple, endearing trick, and a genuinely useful foundation for teaching more advanced tricks later, since it draws on many of the same skills as general obedience, part of our wider cognitive enrichment approach.

A surprisingly practical trick

Beyond looking impressive, peekaboo gives your dog a specific place to "park" out of the way while you're briefly occupied, giving directions to a stranger, letting cyclists or horses pass safely, or paying at the vet, groomer's or boarding reception. It's also a nice addition to a recall routine, and useful for manoeuvring your dog out of the way in a crowded space or narrow alley.

Teaching it step by step

Stand facing your dog with a few of their favourite treats in hand. Lure them to one side, then throw a treat on the floor beside you, then behind you, then between your legs, keeping their attention on your hand and the treats throughout. Within a few repetitions your dog should end up standing between your legs, head poking through. The moment they arrive there, treat them and say "peekaboo," then place further treats just in front of you so they learn this is the position to hold. Repeat until they're reliably succeeding around 9 times out of 10, then start using just the hand movement with no treat, before finally adding your dog's name plus the verbal cue "peekaboo" once the physical cue is solid.

If your dog gets stuck

A dog that won't commit to walking between your legs is often reacting to stance width rather than confusion about the trick, standing with your feet too close together can make the gap feel uninviting, so widen your stance and lower the lure closer to the ground the first few times. If your dog isn't especially food motivated, the same shaping works with a favourite toy instead, see our guide on using a toy as a motivator for how to adapt the method.

A good trick to use often

It's simple enough that children can teach it too, making it a nice whole-family activity, and works well as a short, playful break in the middle of a longer obedience session if either of you needs to reset, or as a change of pace during a clicker training session if you're already working on marker timing.

Getting the right support

Get in touch for more ideas on fun, engaging training games for your dog, part of our puppy training programme.