Teaching your dog to shake a paw is a fun and relatively easy trick to teach your dog. In addition to impressing friends and family, teaching your dog to shake provides an opportunity for you and your dog to bond.
How to teach your dog to shake
To teach your dog to shake a paw:
- Have your dog sit in front of you, grab a treat, and extend your arm in front of your body. Do not show your dog the treat.
- As soon as your dog starts to lift their paw off the ground say “Yes!” and give them the treat
- Once your dog is consistently lifting their paw, make the exercise more challenging, and only reward them when they bring their paw into your hand.
- After 10 good reps, you can introduce the verbal cue “Shake a paw.” To do this, open your palm and extend your arm. As soon as your dog starts to lift their paw, immediately say “Shake a paw.”
- Once their paw lands in your hand, say “Yes!” and give them a treat.
- With practice your dog will associate the word “Shake”, with the act of putting their paw into your hand.
Other cute tricks you can teach your dog
Once your dog has the hang of shaking a paw, teach your dog how to:
