Do you know how to get your dog to shake your hand? Good dog training tips can help you learn how to properly teach your dog this behaviour. Shaking hands is often viewed as a positive reinforcement technique for a dog, helping it to gain your approval and trust. It is a great way to encourage good behaviour from your dog, but only if you do it correctly. Here are some tips to help you get started with dog training tricks for shaking hands.
To teach your dog to shake paws, begin by having it sit. Have treats in your hand, not too far away, and use a command that will make it stop bothering your guests, such as Stop it or Come. Say the word slowly and clearly, while holding the treats in your fist just in front of your dog. When your dog begins to raise a paw in front of you, say Yes!
One of the dog training tips you will find in almost every kid guide to dogs book or magazine is that you should never reward a dog for doing something he knows nothing about. This is exactly what you should do when teaching your dog to shake paws: never reward a dog for something he doesn’t know. However, there are exceptions to this rule.
If the dog is about to perform an act that is dangerous to him, such as biting another dog, you may reward it with treats, praise or food. However, never give rewards for other things that your dog does right. These include pulling you over on the road, or getting into mischief at home. The reason is that your dog will confuse these actions with things that are acceptable. Rewards should only be given for actions that are harmful or wrong.
For many people, praising or giving treats are insufficient as a reward for good behavior. If this is the case, you will want to combine other methods of dog training. For example, if your dog learns the “sit” command perfectly, you will want to combine teaching him to heel to the “sit” command and giving him treats for his obedience. How to do this is actually very easy. You just need to learn some simple dog training tricks.
In the first step, you will want to teach your dog the command to heel by sitting down next to him while still in the sitting position. Have your dog on his leash and put his paw under your chest with his front paws on the ground. You can encourage him to stand by simply saying, “shake!” This will begin to teach him that he needs to follow commands by standing up. As he progresses in the command, you can move from using only his front paws to his back paws.
In the second step, use the verbal command to heel as you have taught him the entire verbal command to heel. Begin by using the command while standing next to him. Then move to using it while standing still, then while walking, and eventually, while standing still. As your dog progresses, you can change up which position he needs to be in for each command. If he balks, you can change the direction of his walk and make it run in the opposite direction.
Finally, use treats and positive reinforcement to reinforce all of these tricks. The last two steps only require you to repeat the entire process over again. When your dog has mastered all three steps, he will be well on his way to learning how to shake a paw.
