# How to teach "Shake"



## enh811 (Jan 23, 2014)

Hi everyone, 
I have never had such a hard time teaching shake as I have with my first German shepherd. She is 4 1/2 months now & for the life of me we cannot get her to learn "Shake" she knows other basic commands such as; sit, stay, down, off, leave it & were working on roll over. She is doing good with those. Shake we have been trying for like a month & she is not getting it... Help! Ideas? Suggestions??? 
Thanks 


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## ApselBear (Feb 10, 2014)

I've never had trouble with Shake, but I may have just been lucky. What I usually do, is offer my hand palm up and when he looks at it I say shake. I just expect a blank stare at that point, but before he stops looking at the hand reach and grab his paw. Deliberate but not rushed. Treat while holding the paw.


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## nikon22shooter (Dec 5, 2013)

ApselBear said:


> I've never had trouble with Shake, but I may have just been lucky. What I usually do, is offer my hand palm up and when he looks at it I say shake. I just expect a blank stare at that point, but before he stops looking at the hand reach and grab his paw. Deliberate but not rushed. Treat while holding the paw.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App



Exactly this. Shake. Grab. Shake grab. 

Repeat until they get it. Shouldn't take long.


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## SummerGSDLover (Oct 20, 2013)

Try squeezing the paw gently while saying "shake." 

My way:

Put puppy into a sit. Grab paw, simultaneously say "shake" and squeeze paw. Treat. "Good girl!" Keep doing it over and over for a couple minutes. Then try saying shake without grabbing her paw and see what happens!  Good luck! 

*-*Summer*-*


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

I taught it by saying shake and messing with the upper lip and the pup would raise the paw to slap my hand away and I'd mark and reward.


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## lennyb (Jan 1, 2014)

Taught both my boys shake the same way. Say shake, grab paw and praise. With in a couple of days they had it down. The only problem is now if I have something they want the offer paw with out me asking. GSD's are incrediblely smart and will / can learn extremely fast.


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## nikon22shooter (Dec 5, 2013)

Thissssss. It gets annoying sometimes when they throw those big paws around when you don't want them haha. Especially when they hit you in the face with them lol


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## lennyb (Jan 1, 2014)

Lord forbid they want attention and you ignore them. My boys will whine, lick and finally smack at you until you give them their lovin, then I swear they actually smile and talk to ya while your loving them.


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## Mala (Feb 12, 2014)

I hold a treat in my hand closed. My pup would sit and try to figure out how to get to it. After sniffing, licking, biting (painfully), she'll use her paw to try to scratch it. When she puts her paw on my hand, I open it and let her have the treat. After a few repetitions, I give her the que. Then I slowly transition it without the treat and when she gives me her paw when I say "paw" I give her a treat from my other hand. I use "shake" command for her to shake her body before she comes in the house  


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## Tratkins (Feb 15, 2014)

I did what Mala did and our new pup got it pretty quick.


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## TommyB681 (Oct 19, 2012)

Shake was difficult for me. As everyone else said "shake"-pick the paw-reward

Not as easy as it sounded but after some persistence she got it


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## Thesilentone (Jan 5, 2013)

I've always found that "shake" was always the easiest for me to teach my dogs for some reason. I guess it all matters on how persistent you are in training. 

What I did when I first started out was just by picking up the dog's paw and then saying the command after I did so. Just kept doing this until the dog finally understood because both my dogs know this command by heart and then started praising them, "good girl/boy" each time they got it on their own. It didn't take long to register for mine that had no knowledge beforehand.


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## nikon22shooter (Dec 5, 2013)

I actually replaced the 'shake' command with 'paw' because I taught the 'shake' command for when I give them a bath and I have them shake their body to get all the water off haha.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

I'd spray my pooch down with water and then when she would shake to get the water off her...I would reward...

SuperG


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I put a treat in my hand and offer my fist. Dog knows the treat is there and will usually eventually paw at my hand to get me to open it. When he does this, I mark the behavior and open my hand for the treat. Once he gets the idea of touching my hand to get the treat, I start rewarding with my other hand (not opening the hand he's pawing) and there you have it.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Liesje said:


> I put a treat in my hand and offer my fist. Dog knows the treat is there and will usually eventually paw at my hand to get me to open it. When he does this, I mark the behavior and open my hand for the treat. Once he gets the idea of touching my hand to get the treat, I start rewarding with my other hand (not opening the hand he's pawing) and there you have it.


This is the way I taught it as well. I've only had one dog where I had to do the whole "touch paw and treat" method, the rest got it with the above.

Once they've got shake down, you can easily add "high 5" and have them slap your hand on command. Just hold your hand straight facing them rather than flat and palm up and mark when they hit it


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Liesje said:


> I put a treat in my hand and offer my fist. Dog knows the treat is there and will usually eventually paw at my hand to get me to open it. When he does this, I mark the behavior and open my hand for the treat. Once he gets the idea of touching my hand to get the treat, I start rewarding with my other hand (not opening the hand he's pawing) and there you have it.


This is the same way I do it. If the pup is a little slow, I'll use the same hand that has the treat and place it under his head. Using my index finger I'll gently lift up the pup's snout. He'll use his paw to redirect my hand so he can sniff it. I mark it and open my hand to provide the treat while verbally rewarding.


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## fredh (Sep 10, 2013)

I never taught Jake how to shake, He's more of a Kisser. But seriousley, when I went through 1 on 1 basic puppy obedience training with him as a Pup, our Trainer advised against teaching him that as an 80 pound dog could knock a toddler over by going through the "shake" motion.


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## ApselBear (Feb 10, 2014)

Shade said:


> Once they've got shake down, you can easily add "high 5" and have them slap your hand on command. Just hold your hand straight facing them rather than flat and palm up and mark when they hit it


I nearly forgot to teach high 5 to Apsel, I'll have to start that tonight. It'll probably be more like a high-punch when he's full grown though...


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## Mishka&Milo (Jan 4, 2014)

I taught my girl by offering my hand to her when she was in a particularly playful mood. It only took a couple of tries for her to realize what I wanted.... After teaching that, wave is a fun one to try  


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## DonnaKay (Jan 20, 2014)

Have been trying shake for a few days by picking up her paw, saying shake, then reward. She just wasn't making the connection. I think because I was picking up her paw rather than her offering.

Tried the closed fist with treat in it and she got it on first try! Repeated about 10 times, switched treat to other hand and offered open hand for shake and now she does it no fail. I'm so excited! Thanks for the suggestion!


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## ApselBear (Feb 10, 2014)

Nice work! High five was easy too. Apsel had it after one closed fist treat. 


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## enh811 (Jan 23, 2014)

Ahh!!! Well everyone... Thanks for your help and suggestions. I literally tried all of those ideas and she just was not interested in learning this at all... But I decided the other night to try, try again... And SHE GOT IT!!! Instead. Of saying "shake", I said "paw". And it clicked. We will work on high five now... . Thanks again!!! 


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## Knucklehead (Apr 11, 2013)

"Shake" was the easiest trick to teach my GSD.

One day, I figured it would be fun for the kids to be able to "shake" with the dog. So I put my GSD into a sit stay, held out my hand and was about to say "shake" and as the word was coming out, his paw was in my hand. And that was that. 

Now getting him to heel while I walk him... that's a different story altogether. 

BTW, "shake" comes in very handy when cleaning muddy paws, or checking for torn pads.


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