Shake 

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After a few weeks of learning the basics, it's time to teach your pup some fun tricks! 

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One of the easiest tricks to teach a puppy is to shake hands. 

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1. Pup Performs the Action 

 

Put a treat in your hand. Don't say anything to your pup and just let her smell the treat. She may look at you to try and figure out what you want. Just wait. 

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After a few moments, she will paw at your hand. As soon as she does this, click and treat. 

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Continue practicing until she is reliably pawing at your hand for the treat.

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2. Hand Signal 

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Now it's time to try it with no treat! Put out your hand the same way you did with the treat, but keep the treat in your pocket. When she paws at your empty hand, click and give her a treat out of your pocket. 

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The next step is for you to take her paw and shake when she puts her paw out. Some dogs catch on right away, for others it takes awhile. Wait until she is comfortable with this. Remember to be gentle! 

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At this point you still aren't saying anything to your dog! Don't worry, the click speaks much more to them than your voice at this point! 

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Once she is performing the trick 4 or 5 times out of 5, move on to the verbal cue.

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3. Verbal Cue 

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Once a shaking paw is reliable when you put your hand out, start giving her a word for the action. Say "Shake!" and then put your hand out. She will paw at your hand, you shake her paw, click, and treat. 

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Voila: Your dog now shakes hands! 

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Tips: 

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Never treat your dog for pawing at them without the command "Shake." This will prevent your dog from getting into the habit of pawing at people to get what they want. 

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At first, this may be confusing to your dog. But once they realize that they will only get a treat when they hear the word "Shake," this behavior will fade out. 

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Check out the video for the proper technique on teaching a puppy to shake! 

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