If you're looking for a quick and easy trick to teach your dog, try dog shake. With a little patience and some tasty treats you can probably teach your dog shake in one afternoon. Here are the steps to teaching this dog behavior.
Step-by-Step
Your dog should already know the sit command before attempting dog shake. When your dog is sitting, say to him "shake," lift his paw and then give him praise and a treat. Repeat this action a few more times and then give him a break. Come back for a few more brief sessions and in one day you'll have taught your dog shake.After your dog learns shake, he may begin to raise his paw every time you ask him to sit in anticipation of a treat. If he raises his paw without the shake command, ignore it.
Variations
Once your dog has mastered dog shake you can teach him some fun and entertaining variations on the trick.
- Gesture command -
After your dog has a firm grasp on dog shake you can train him to shake without offering your hand. Come up with a subtle hand gesture instead. This is particularly fun when you can combine the hand gesture with a question such as "Who wants to clean up the dinner dishes?"
- Other Paw - For the quickest success with having your dog shake using both paws, teach him to shake with his other paw right after he learns dog shake. Simply follow "shake" with "other paw," lifting the opposite paw and praising and rewarding as before.
- High Five - You can get your dog to raise his paw high in the air by withholding the treat until he begins to get frustrated. Move your hand higher and say "high five." Remember to praise him and offer a treat immediately.
- Peek-a-boo - This trick requires a little more patience but makes a great impression on friends and family. Get a 1" x 1" piece of masking tape and stick and unstick it until it's just barely sticky. Place below your dog's eye on the side opposite the one he normally shakes with. He should paw at it in an attempt to get it off. As he's pawing away, give him a few treats to make him stop and say "peek-a-boo." Say "peek-a-boo" again before he raises his paw again. Treat him after he paws his eye one time. Repeat until he covers his eye with the peek-a-boo command and doesn't need the tape anymore.
After teaching dog shake and its variations, you can attempt some other fun tricks.
