Teach Your Dog to Sit and Shake Hands

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"How do you do?" One of the most popular and common tricks to teach a dog is to get it to sit and shake your hand. Of course, a dog doesn't really shake your hand - it just presents its paw and allows you to grab hold of it. This is one of the best ways to teach visiting children (and even adults) that your dog is friendly enough to shake hands, and can be a great way of introducing your dog to strangers. Of course, to get your dog to sit and shake, you'll have to teach it. Here's how.

First, your dog should stay "sit" whenever you command it to. Many dogs know how to sit because it is one of the most frequent commands given it, but make sure that your dog will respond obediently every time you tell it to sit. This means some extended training time where you produce treats from your pocket every time it sits. Don't reward your dog if it only sits after you've said it a few times - in fact, only say "sit!" once if possible. This will teach the dog that it is to sit after the first time, not the fifth time.

Once your dog is sitting, the "Shake!" command will come next. Like any other trick, you're going to try and teach this dog what "Shake" means through association. Dogs won't understand what the word "shake" means simply because you do; you'll have to make it clear that when you say "Shake," you want to lock hands. Try this a few times, and once your dog starts presenting its hand, immediately produce a treat from your pocket. You'll be surprised at how motivating a treat it. Remember the principle mentioned above: try not to keep repeating your command, otherwise a dog will understand that he can get away with not producing the trick right away.

Now that you've taught the dog both commands, you can start telling your dog to "Sit...shake!" Make sure you wait for the dog to sit before you say shake, and don't repeat your commands if you can help it. Usually, dogs will be rewarded with affection after they "Shake," so you won't need to worry about constantly reinforcing the new behavior.

And that's it. Voila! You've taught your dog to shake. Remember that it's important to be patient. It's also important to remember that dogs learn through association, so ask yourself what you're teaching your dog through your actions. Demand total compliance (by only giving the command once if possible), and only reward once compliance has been met.

Photo Credits: quinn.anya

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