# Difficulties with training a dog to shake hands?



## SoyMilk

I've taught Toasty to sit, stay, wait, lie down and to go under chairs on command but I can't not for the life of me teach her to shake hands. 
Tips?
Thanks


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## flashyfawn

What have you tried so far? My older girl took a long time to learn to shake, but I really think she just failed to see the point in it. Her motto is "well, what's in it for me??" Eventually she kind of turned it around and would shake/poke us when she wanted food, sort of like a human treat dispenser button. She will shake on cue but isn't really excited about it.


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## SoyMilk

I've tried two things so far: 
1. Lifting her left paw while saying the cue word and giving her a treat.
2. Placing a dog treat in my hand to see if she'll paw at it.
What happened with method 1:
She would stare at me then lean an put her paw back on the ground and just seemed confused.
What happened with method 2:
Toasty doesn't like moving; unless the activity is rolling in the dirt, eating or watching other dogs (yes, she likes to watch dogs play, specifically big dogs. She doesn't like small dogs and ignores them) so she won't paw at the treat in my hand or even lick it.


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## StdPooDad

Have you tried shaping? For a start, click and treat for the slightest paw movement. Doesn't need to be an up motion, just mark any movement. Eventually she'll get the idea that the more she moves her paw the more clicks and treats she gets. Then it's just a matter of c/ting her for movements in an upward direction. 

If you've never done any clicker/marker training before, you'll need to load the clicker. Basically this means sitting in front of the dog, clicking and feeding, click and feed, do this about 30 or 40 times so she *knows* when she hears that click, a treat is coming.


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## SoyMilk

StdPooDad said:


> Have you tried shaping? For a start, click and treat for the slightest paw movement. Doesn't need to be an up motion, just mark any movement. Eventually she'll get the idea that the more she moves her paw the more clicks and treats she gets. Then it's just a matter of c/ting her for movements in an upward direction.
> 
> If you've never done any clicker/marker training before, you'll need to load the clicker. Basically this means sitting in front of the dog, clicking and feeding, click and feed, do this about 30 or 40 times so she *knows* when she hears that click, a treat is coming.


Thanks I'll try that tomorrow! （＾∇＾）


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## sozzle

That's good advice from StdPooDad, that's how we taught our 5 year old dog who knew absolutely nothing as he was an ex racer how to sit (the shaping). We didn't use the clicker but when he was getting ready to lie down we would say 'sit' when he was just about in the sit position and then treat. It took 4 months as greyhounds don't sit easily and it's not particularly comfortable for them.

We trained Stanley to shake hands by grabbing his paw and saying the words "shake hands" and then after he got it we would just hold our hand out. It helps that he is very food motivated.

Honestly if we can train a greyhound I am sure you can train your pooch.
Good luck.


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## StdPooDad

Even not using a clicker is still called clicker training. I guess it's more technically correct to call it marker training since you can (as sozzle did) use a marker word. That's all the clicker is, a mechanical marker. It's nice because it is *very* precise. 
Even using a short marker word like yes can be problematic because the dog might think he is doing what you want by the time you get to "s" when you mean it to be when you pronounced the "y" , whereas with a clicker it's so definitive and precise.

However, having said that, I use "yes" when I don't have a clicker, for example when I'm leash walking my dogs I rarely have a clicker, it's too much of a hassle. 



sozzle said:


> We didn't use the clicker but ....


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## StdPooDad

I searched and didn't find specifically a shake hands video by kikopup, but a woman named Emily, youtube name "kikopup" has probably the best training videos I've seen. I would urge you to subscribe to her youtube channel.


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## StdPooDad

More on shaping. It's almost shocking how fast it can be! Sure, there are some times when you wonder, but for the most part it's amazing. I love it because you are Teaching the dog TO think. Not Thinking FOR the dog. Almost anytime you mold the dog, move the dog, etc...you're thinking for the dog. 
With shaping however, once your dog understands the game she'll start offering all sorts of behaviors to get a click. Kind of like "huh, huh, MOM is this right? How about THIS Mom? Or should I do THIS?"

I first started doing it with Teaghan to teach her to down on command. With Seamus I'd done the old "hold the treat down and he'll follow it to the floor." After a year or two he got it, now he'll down when I ask him. But Teaghan wasn't interested in following a treat. She just wanted to know what the H*&* to do! I started out by standing and watching her, I had a clicker and treats. The second she made any sort of a move to the floor I'd click and treat. I mean, if her head dipped and she looked at the floor I c/t'd. It took two sessions, a total of maybe 5 or 6 minutes and she was lying down on command!

Capturing is another technique to use, it sounds like that's what sozzle used with Stanley to teach him to shake. With Teaghan, I noticed she had a really cute sort of sit up and wave her paws. I just decided to put it on cue, now whenever I slap my hands on the front of my thighs, she jumps up and waves her paws ( or just jumps up and hugs me) But the cool thing is that she jumps up *when I ask her to do so*, she just doesn't jump up unless she's invited.


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## MollyWoppy

I taught my cat to sit by shaping. She won't take treats so that was my only option. It is fun and it definitely does work.


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## flashyfawn

I had a foster dog who was sweet but very shy and nervous. I taught him everything only by shaping and rewarding behaviors when he happened to do them, because any type of luring or asking for a behavior was too nerve-wracking for him. It wasn't a quick process, but he was a puppy mill dog who had no experience with training and interacting with people in that way, so that made it harder that it would have been for a normal dog. But once he learned each skill, he really knew it 100%. I did not use a clicker because he was scared of the noise but it was the exact same idea. There were no formal training sessions at all, I just watched him and rewarded a behavior I wanted him to learn. It definitely works.


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## johnmaclen21

There are many people who think that to train a dog to shake hand is very difficult task, but in actual its not. We can easily train our dog in a very simple manner.
Teaching your dog how to shake hands might be a good idea because dogs are social animals, they need love too .You should be able to easily lift their paw because their weight is on the other paw. Put the paw down and praise and reward your dog with a small treat which will be so beneficial. Do the same exercises again this time gently shake the paw of your dog while saying shake hands or like Good dog. After practicing more times stop pulling your dogs collar and now only need to say shake hands and take their paw. After consistent practices your dog will offer his paw when you asked to shake hands.


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## Tobi

I just grabbed his paw his left for "left, and right for "right and started shoving treats in his mouth, now I put my hand out like I want something and immediately get a shake lol. Half the time when he wants something now in fact he will shake with our legs.


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## doggiedad

there's the problem, she knows people and dogs shake with the right hand or right paw.



SoyMilk said:


> I've tried two things so far:
> 
> >>>>>1. Lifting her left paw<<<<< while saying the cue word and giving her a treat.
> 
> 
> 2. Placing a dog treat in my hand to see if she'll paw at it.
> What happened with method 1:
> She would stare at me then lean an put her paw back on the ground and just seemed confused.
> What happened with method 2:
> Toasty doesn't like moving; unless the activity is rolling in the dirt, eating or watching other dogs (yes, she likes to watch dogs play, specifically big dogs. She doesn't like small dogs and ignores them) so she won't paw at the treat in my hand or even lick it.


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## Jan Fred

How are you going to handle your dog's difficulty in sleeping? Is that something that can be trained? please help.


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