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Is there anything more adorable than a dog giving you their paw, as if they want to shake your hand? Training a dog to shake is not only an adorable trick to delight your friends, but it can also be a great training goal to promote focus, discipline, and a stronger bond between you and your pup.
Like all new tricks, if you want to teach your dog how to shake, there are steps to be taken to train your dog into this command. Shake is a more advanced command, so you may want to be sure that your dog can follow simple obedience commands such as ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ before moving on to ‘shake’.
We are going to take you through the training process to teach your dog to shake their paw with you, outlining each step, and how you as a pet parent can support your pooch when it comes to learning something new.
To teach your dog how to shake, you will need to break the training down into easy-to-follow steps that your dog will be able to understand, which when repeated in order should result in a pup who will pass you their paw whenever you ask.
We have put together a short guide of the basic training steps to help teach your dog to shake their paw with you, starting simple and building up to the ‘shake’ command:
First things first, you want to get your dog to sit. This gets them into a settled and receptive position with their focus turned to you, ready to start learning. It also begins the training session on a positive note, as you are giving them a command that they can obey easily.
Hold a treat out to your dog so they can see it in the palm of your hand, don’t allow them to take it. Close your hand around the treat and hold it out in front of them.
After some excitable sniffing, your dog will likely start to paw at your hand in an attempt to get the treat from you.
As soon as your dog begins to paw at your hand, give them the treat. The idea here is that your dog will learn that they are rewarded when they give you their paw.
Repetition is one of the strongest training tools you can use when teaching your dogs new tricks. Repeat steps one to four several times until your dog starts to get the idea and gives you their paw each time.
Now, you want to increase the difficulty - getting your dog to give you their paw without showing them the treat first. Hold your fist out in front of them as you have done previously, however, this time keep the treat in your other hand.
The hope here is that your dog will paw at your hand anyway, and you can then reward them with the treat from your other hand.
Once you are confident that your dog is getting the idea, you can introduce the verbal ‘shake’ command so that your dog comes to associate the word with the action. Hold your palm out flat so that when your dog gives their paw you can hold it and give it a gentle shake.
Continue with treat rewards until your dog can easily give you their paw on command, at which time you can remove the treat and give them some fuss and verbal affirmation instead.
When your dog is learning something new, there is always the chance there will be challenges or tricky moments during the teaching process.
Here are a few of the potential issues that may come hand in paw with training your dog to ‘shake’:
If your pup doesn’t seem to understand what you are trying to teach them, you can encourage the action by giving their paw a gentle nudge or carefully lifting their paw, afterward offering a reward. The hope is that they will then come to recognize what you are trying to get them to do.
In this instance, your training sessions are likely too long and your dog is losing focus - try and keep sessions around 5-10 minutes, and always end things on a positive note, whether that be by giving them a command that they can obey easily, or even just lots of fuss and positive affirmation.
It can be beneficial to train your dog alongside another family member or friend, and in the early days of your dog learning the ‘shake’ command, you may want to encourage visitors to ask your dog for their paw so that they get used to others giving the command.
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