Dog Shake

Question
Hi Barb:

I have a wonderful little Italian Greyhound that is a pet (no breeding, no show, etc.)  His name is Romeo.  He is about 6 years old and is trained in the areas I need him to be.  He has been sitting for years on command so recently I decided I would teach him to "shake."  I might not have approached it correctly because we seem to be stuck.  What I did was made him sit, put the treat behind my back with one hand, and then said "shake."  With the other hand I reach for his front paw and pulled it up and gave him the treat.  Now, all he will do when I say shake is lift his paw about an inch off the ground.  We have been doing this for months.  I think he is just waiting for me to lift it up and get his treat.  How can I teach him I want his paw to come up higher to shake my hand?

Thanks and keep up the good work!

Mike

Answer
Hi Mike. Yep - he's waiting for you to do the work so he can get his treat!  He's got you trained!!  When you taught this, you were doing more work than he was and that's why you're stuck.  

The good thing is that he's lifting his paw at least a little.  What you need now is patience. Get some treats that he really likes  (small bits of cheese or meat usually work well) and do this just before mealtime.  Ask him to sit and give a treat so that he knows you have something really yummy.  Now, give your cues (saying "shake" and bending over with your hand out just in front of his paw).  When you get the existing little paw lift say "yes" and give him a treat.  

You'll need your patience for the next repetition.  Give your cues, wait for the paw lift but you're not going to say "yes" and give the treat until he lifts his paw a bit higher. You're raising the criteria for the payout.  If he's hungry and really wants the treats you have, he'll get a little frustrated and try a little harder to earn the reward and probably lift his paw a bit higher.  This is called shaping a skill or behavior - rewarding successive approximations to the final behavior you have in mind.  The key is to have patience and wait the dog out.  You can continue shaping this trick until you get the paw shake that you want.  Remember to let the dog do the work :-)

It's important to mark the exact behavior you want and that's why I suggested you say "yes" when you get what you're looking for.  A method of training that uses marker signals is clicker training and this is something I'd highly recommend for you and Romeo.  It's a great way to train and the dog learns that his behavior can make good things happen for him.  Please check out this website to get started:  www.clickertraining.com.  

Please let me know if you have questions.  It's harder to describe in writing than it is to demonstrate!