Shake Hands, Hi Fives and Sit up (sit pretty, beg)

Shaking hands, high fives, waving and sit ups are all very similarly taught. Here are so cute videos of several puppies and dogs learning how to wave and shake hands.

With these tricks it’s all about where you hold your hand and how that naturally affects a dog’s feet.

So if I want a shake hands:

• I hold a treat in my closed fist

• I place my hand near my dog’s chest, not too low or they will lay down, not too high or they will jump

• I watch their front feet closely and the moment one of the paws moves at all I open my hand with the treat so they can eat it

• With each repetition I am watching those front feet and waiting slightly longer to get a higher paw before opening.

• Then I am waiting for the paw to make contact with my hand before opening it.

• Then I do a little switcheroo and I put my treat hand higher and place my free hand out and when the dog paw hits my hand on the way back down after pawing towards the higher treat they couldn’t reach, as soon as the paw hits my hand I open the treat hand and give it to them.

For a wave or high five it’s the same as above but I am raising that target hand higher and higher and gradually rewarding my dog for reaching higher.

For a sit up, it is the same but then I am working on duration and a distance height that they need to raise both paws to keep reaching for.