Polite Pawing
Many dogs can do these simple tricks with very little prompting because they already use their paws to play with toys or get your attention. If your dog falls into that category, teaching these tricks should be fairly straightforward.
Give Your Paw
Give Your Paw may be the most natural trick for dogs prone to pawing. However, it also serves as the foundation for other paw-oriented tricks, so master this one first. The shaping steps for teaching Give Your Paw are:
Find out what usually gets your dog to paw at you and use it to get him to do it. As your dog's paw is in the air, click and treat.
Repeat this 15 to 20 times until your dog is offering his paw readily.
Now, leave your hand outstretched and wait your dog out; don't prompt him in any other way and see what happens. If he lifts his paw at all, click and treat.
If after a few seconds he does not lift his paw, go back to helping him for another 10 to 15 repetitions before you try again. You want the dog to understand that lifting his paw is what gets the click and treat to happen.
If you are using your outstretched hand as the prompt that gets your dog to give his paw, this can be turned into the cue for the behavior. Show your hand and click and treat as your dog is stretching out his paw.
This trick may come in handy when teaching better greeting manners around guests.
Add the verbal cue Give Your Paw when your dog is raising his paw to slap your hand on a regular basis.
Practice in different environments with various distractions, being careful not to overwhelm your dog. If the behavior falls apart in the new place, don't be afraid to make things easier for him and help him out.
Avoid repeating yourself over and over; give one cue, wait for your dog's response, and click and treat. If your dog's response is not quick enough, go back to helping him for six to eight repetitions before trying again.
High Five
The High Five is just a variation of the Give Your Paw trick with a few minor adjustments.
If your dog does not usually raise his paw, try teasing him with a really yummy treat in your fist held at about nose height, scratching him on the chest, or touching his toenails with your finger. Most dogs will respond by raising a paw, giving you an opportunity to click and treat.
Teach your dog to target your hand with her paw for a click and treat.
Present your hand as the target in various positions until you can hold your hand up, palm facing the dog with fingers toward the ceiling. Click and treat your dog for touching your hand with his paw.
Practice this until your dog is quickly raising his paw when he sees you put your hand up.
Verbally label the behavior High Five when it is happening on a regular basis.
Add in distractions and work on having your dog do it with other people as well.
Sometimes you'll want to use a different cue or hand signal than the one you started with when you are teaching tricks. There is an order that must be followed before your dog will perform the behavior on the new cue. You must present the new cue before the old cue or the dog will not pay attention to the new cue.
Wave
Teaching your dog to Wave is adorable and effective doggie PR because it gives him an appropriate way to greet people. Establishing an acceptable behavior, such as waving, is one of the keys to eliminating jumping. To perform this trick, the dog must raise a paw in the air while remaining stationary, which you can teach using a combination of targeting and shaping. The shaping steps are:
Start with your dog in a Sit/Stay and move a few steps away from him. Go back every few seconds for a full minute to reward your dog for not following you.
Standing in front of your dog, ask for his paw and click and treat him for giving it to you several times in a row.
Take a step away from your dog and ask for his paw. Click and treat the slightest effort to raise his paw without trying to move toward you. You may need to reward him for staying for a few repetitions before he'll remain in position and lift his paw.
To get a nice high Wave, remember to click when the dog is raising his paw rather than when his paw is coming back down.
As your dog raises his paw to place it in your outstretched hand, start fading this cue by removing your hand quickly. Click and treat your dog for swiping the air.
Repeat this step until your dog starts raising his paw when he sees your outstretched hand.
As your dog starts to offer swiping the air readily without moving forward, you can begin to verbally label this new behavior Wave.
Change the hand signal to an actual wave by changing the position of your hand from an outstretched palm to a waving hand. Offer the new cue (the waving hand) right before the old cue (the outstretched hand), gradually fading out the old cue until your dog is performing the behavior when you are waving at him.
Add in distractions and practice in new places until the behavior is reliable.
