Teaching Shake

[Henrietta]

Hi all,

This may seem to be a rather trivial thing for me to post about, but I tell you what it has got me stumped.

I have been trying teach Abby to shake hands, but she just doesn't get it (or doesn't want too :D ). I have been trying since she was roughly 12 weeks old.

She is a clever dog and does know stuff like sit, stay, stand, drop etc. Not to an advance level or anything, but quite well at this point (she is only young). I know she is clever, but she is also quite stubborn. I'm still at that stage that I am trying to learn what makes her tick and what her learning style is.

This is what I do. I say 'shake' and gently lift her paw and I will give her a treat and praise praise praise. That's just to start off with, to show her what to do. I know that repitition helps, but it's kind of been 100 reps by now.

I figure I must be doing something wrong. When I say shake, she just looks at me blanky.

It was very easy to teach our staffy to shake, I feel that it is easier when they are naturally touchy feely. (When she was a pup, she would automatically put her paw up at us, so we would say 'shake' and praise her, she picked it up almost straight away!

What am I doing wrong? I am obviously not going to attempt any other tricks until we have this one down pat.

Cheers

Em

ETA Lol is it kind of embarassing that I haven't been able to teach 'shake' yet?

Edited June 11, 2007 by Emmala

[cassie]

Hi Em :D

I'm not sure if this is the "traditional" way to teach shake or not, but this is how I taught my two, both at a very young age.

Start with a very smelly treat - eg. a liver treat, something that smells scumptious to them! Tell the dog to sit. Let them see the treat in your hand, then close your hand into a fist (with the treat inside) and hold it just in front of their face. They will start sniffing your hand and maybe even licking at your fingers, trying to get at the treat. Do nothing at this stage. Eventually (it might take a minute or so) they will paw at your hand in an attempt to get the food. As soon as they do that, say "Shake!" or "Paw!" or whatever word you want to use, and open your hand so they get the treat, and tell them "Good dog" etc...lots of praise. Does that make sense? Try it several times and soon enough when you say "Shake!/Paw!" they will, and you don't have to have the treat in your closed fist anymore.

Good luck!

[Henrietta]

Thanks Cassie!

I'm off to try it lol, I let you know how that goes!! Makes sense, I think it is easier if you can encourage them to naturally perform a task and they must think, 'well that was great, I didn't have to do much for that treat' Lol.

Oh and by the way, when I say 100 reps, I don't mean in one session!! I mean collectively about 100. :D

EFS

Edited June 11, 2007 by Emmala

[Bubitty]

Thanks Cassie!

I'm off to try it lol, I let you know how that goes!! Makes sense, I think it is easier if you can encourage them to natural perform a task and they must, 'well that was great, I didn't have to do much for that treat' Lol.

Oh and by the way, when I say 100 reps, I don't mean in one session!! I mean collectively about 100. :D

I agree with this Em. I tried the “hide your face” trick by raising his paw to his face and he just stared at me like I was a mad nutter.

[whatevah]

http://www.dogtrick.741.com/moses_shake_hands.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqhaJEOtXb4

[Henrietta]

Hi CTD,

That webpage was great, thank you! It described it kind of like what I was doing, we just obvious need more work and I need to persevere with it!

I had a good old laugh at Tia in that vid when she was waving the other way LOL! :D

[Arya]

Hi Emmala, both your way and cassie's way has worked for me in the past. The other way is to gently push one shoulder when they are sitting and put them slightly off balance. The minute a paw goes up, you 'capture' it. The other thing is, check your 'line of communication' with the dog with all tricks, obedience etc. Do you use a marker word as well as a treat? So, when she lifts her paw up you would say 'yes' or some other word and quickly reward. So 'yes' equals treat coming. Or you use a clicker and click and treat. I dont use a clicker for trick or ob training but lots do and I know lots of people teach their dogs tricks using a clicker to mark behaviours with great success. Good luck

[Arya]

http://www.dogtrick.741.com/moses_shake_hands.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqhaJEOtXb4

CTD I love your tricks!!! I have taught my dog lots of tricks and just did your 'take the socks off' one with her yesterday. Hilarious and she loves it

[whatevah]

You will have to video the take your socks one off, would love to see it.

[Arya]

You will have to video the take your socks one off, would love to see it.

will do, will get my sister to upload a video of Tess tricks to her site some stage soon as I can't do it with my old computer. Tricks are heaps of fun but the socks off one she really loves... guess cos she gets to pull my socks which was a no-no as a pup ;)