Doxie, one of the easiest ways to teach cute tricks is to reward spontaneous actions! It's great for teaching stuff like bow, a movement that's hard to lure a dog into sometimes.
About the vaccinations: I'd be careful. All the vaccinations that are being "required" nowadays have 1) no basis in scientific fact for multiple shots and 2) an adverse effect on our dog's bodies. I mean, nowadays a puppy can get up to 45 shots before they're six months old! Yikes!
From what I've researched, once you've given a vaccination, if the immunity from the mom is gone, it sticks for at least 5 years, and giving another can even nullify the original vaccination. Not to mention quite a few of the vets who have been in practice for years attribute the rising numbers of cancer to crappy food and over-vaccination. A lot of vets and trainers are recommending vaccinating once for parvo and distemper, and then one or two others if it is rampant in your area.
Leptovirus, I've read, is pretty much obsolete in America. So's the adenovirus for the most part--Hepatitus or whatever. The bordatella (kennel cough) vaccine only covers a small number of strains so doesn't do much good (kinda like an old flu shot).
Rabies, I know, is required, but it's not as rampant as people like to think. Thankfully, many cities are getting with the scientific data and moving to the once every three years rather than every year.
Also, space out the vaccinations--getting the 5-in-1 is time saving, but it gives your pup a major shock to his system, plus all dogs get the same dosage no matter what the size--a Chihuahua gets the same dose as a Great Dane. The suggested schedule is parvo, wait two weeks, distemper, wait two or three weeks, another one that's rampant in your area if necessary. Rabies should be given no earlier than 6 months and at least a month after any other vaccinations or surgeries (like spaying/neutering).
The thought among the training/holistic veterinary community is that the yearly vaccinations were put into place to get the dogs in for a yearly check up. That's it. There's no scientific data that says that vaccinations need to be updated yearly, any more than we need to get a measles/mumps/rutabella or tetanus shot every year. The vaccination teaches the body what to attack--it doesn't stick around to fight the disease.
Check out this article--
http://http://www.vaccinationnews.co...inations29.htm
It pretty much says what I did...and adds the fact that vets need to make money too.
FAQ 
The tricks I am teaching now are dancing. I want to teach them to do other tricks like ringing a bell on the door, and "Go Wild"
I would love to teach my guys to bring me their leashes, but Taffy refuses to carry anything in her mouth--has since she was a puppy--and Aussie is still figuring out that playing fetch includes bringing the ball all the way back to me, not halfway or past me *sigh* Funny guys. Aussie does know what his "blue bone", his "football", his "bone" and his "ball" is though. Sometimes I say "get your football" and he grabs the blue bone, but I think that's partially because he didn't want his football right then--he wanted to play with his blue bone.
