Teaching your dog to shake hands is a great command. It’s always fun to teach a dog some tricks and shaking hands is one of them. First it will impress you, the family and your friends. Some of these tricks like teaching a dog to shake hands are very simple. Shaking is a natural action and once your dog acquires it, it will be a great fun and hard to forget.
It is very important to know how to teach a dog to shake hands before you start. Therefore, we will offer very important steps to this effect to enable you and your friends enjoy even more as you take a walk with your pets. The following steps should be followed while teaching a dog to shake.
Let your dog shake your hand
How to teach a dog to shake hands starts out with having the dog sit in front of you. Make sure that you hold your hand out to see if it will paw. It might just sniff and do nothing else. At this point, add an induction pinned between your thumb and your palm. This will act as a treat to the dog. At this juncture, the dog will in most cases sniff and paw in ensuring that it get the treat off the hand. That is it! This now becomes the beginning of your training towards handshake. Once the dog paw to get the treat that was on that hand, give him a treat from the other hand and not the one he was pawning for. The best treat is a clicker. Make sure that you repeat this process as many times as possible until the time the dog will paw at your hand automatically.
Give Your Dog the Same Hand
How to teach a dog to shake, you have establish consistency. Give him your hand with the same position as you just did but now without a treat. So when he responds, reward him with a treat from the other hand always. At this time, the dog will have been conditioned to paw your hand without a treat in your hand. However, if this does not happen, make sure that you continue with a treat present for a while to make him understand the idea.
When learning how to teach a dog to shake…
…try to teach the dog to paw consistently. Try to withdraw the treat slowly. Continue with this process until he fully understands the idea. Therefore, you can start introducing him to verbal instructions. For example, such word as “shake” can be used before as you offer your hand for shaking. When the dog complies, ensure that you reward him. This behaviour should be shaped slowly without hurry for full compliance. Sometimes, the dog may be having a behaviour that you do not want to entertain. For example, before shaking, he may be nuzzling your hand. Make sure that you do not offer any reward when this is done to ensure that this behaviour is stopped. When he shakes without nuzzling, reward and praise him.
How to teach a dog to shake….reduce the frequency at which the dog is rewarded until it becomes fully adapted to this. Be careful during this time as reward withdrawal should not be drastic as this may discourage the dog and cease from performing this trick. In some cases, a dog may realize that the treat was withdrawn and may start coming to you pawing to get it. Never give a reward when he asks for it. A reward should be offered when you ask your dog to shake hands.
Yes, now you know how to teach a dog to shake hands.
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