How To Teach A Dog To Shake?


How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

Try to impress your visitors with a dog that offers paw to shake with. It could be the best gesture for dogs in meeting someone new. With only a few pieces of training, your pet dog will be offering its paw for a shake.

It is very simple to teach dogs without even forcing them physically. Be a handful of bite-sized treats to motivate the pet to perform well. Determine what kind of treat your dog will highly respond to.The entire process would be easier with the best dog treat ever in your pocket.

Training Dogs Shake
The goal is to teach a dog to shake paws in a polite way with everyone.Here are ways to successfully introduce “shake” for your pet:


1. “Sit Down”Command:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

It will be difficult to shake paws with a standing dog, so command him to sit down first.Use a cue to call his attention and wait until the pet sits down. Do not give him a treat yet, as your goal is shaking hands.


2. Hold the Treat:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

Once the dog finally sits down,a dog treat must be in between your thumb and palm. Hold it firmly in your left hand and do not let the dog grab the treat. Get the dog’s attention by showing him the treat in front of his nose. Secure the treat by closing your fist.


3. Say a Verbal Command:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

This is the best time to give your dog a command for shaking hands. Most dog trainers commonly used the “Shake” and “Paw” command. Keep it short, one word if possible, for dogs to easily understand.

Say the command while holding the treat in front of the dog. The pet will not surely respond the right way immediately. It might sniff or leak your hand, instead of shaking hands.Ignore those actions your dog makes and be firm on the training process.


4. Give A Treat:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

Praise your pet dog with a “Yes!” with conviction after he follows the shake command.This is to show the pet some cue that he is doing the right thing. Immediately open your fist and give him the treat.Time will come on which your dog will know what to do when you say the command “Paw”.

Wait for the dog to complete the command before giving a treat. Rewarding your pet dog could lead to good or bad behavior, so be aware.


5. Hold the Dog’s Paw:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

If the dog still does not get what you mean in holding the treat, you may pick its paw intentionally. Hold it for a few seconds and then give him the treat. Your pet will know that pawing at your hand deserves a treat.

Be gentle in holding your pet’s paw.


6. Substitute Praise:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

By doing the previous steps repeatedly, the dog will get into it.You must need not depend on treats the whole time, as it can be costly. Only lend the dog a treat every time he follows the “shake” command that means not at all times.

As time goes by, you can replace the treat with other rewards, like walking in the park. This is to avoid the dog getting so much familiar with having a treat right after shaking a paw. It would just be a routine for the pet.

You can eliminate the dog treat completely once the dog offers a paw on command. It will happen by slowly decreasing the time of giving your dog a treat, not a sudden.


7. Challenge the Dog:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

Does your pet dog seem too good at shaking its paws? Why not make it more challenging?

Look for a situation around you, like a busy place, to perform the shake paw command. Your goal is to bother the dog to check whether his attention is still in the command or not. This method is helpful for dogs to practice the command even with distractions.


8. Practice with the Other Hand:

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

The training process is similar to what is discussed earlier. It only differs on what hand you will use, which is to be the right hand. Follow the process at the same order. Do not forget the treat.

Some more tricks are using different verbal commands when training with the other hand. This helps the dog to easily identify which paw to shake.

Final Thoughts:

To sum it all, dog shake is the easiest training a canine pet ever has.It only uses up two verbal commands in the overall session, such as “sit down” and “shake” or “paw”.Most dog keepers do not need to seek for help in teaching a dog to shake a paw.

How To Teach A Dog To Shake?

It can be done at home while cuddling with the pet dog.Dogs will naturally respond with people he knows, but you may ask other people to practice the command towards your dog.Until your pet dog enjoys to shake paws with anyone!

Share this post with your friends who have a dog in their care.Let’s spread the easiest ways of teaching a dog to shake paws!