How to teach a dog to shake

Your dog should sit reliably, since shake starts from a sit. Use small, soft treats and a quiet room, and keep sessions to a few minutes, stopping while the dog still wants more. A dog with sore feet, wrists or elbows may find lifting a paw uncomfortable, and an older dog with arthritis may struggle to balance on three legs in a sit, so check with your vet before teaching a new trick to a dog with joint trouble. Most healthy dogs, of any age, find shake easy.

Decide which paw comes first. The AKC's trainer suggests teaching the paw nearest the hand you hold out, so your right hand asks for the dog's left paw, and the other paw later with the other hand. The same article says there is no need to pick up the paw for the dog. Lifting it yourself teaches the dog to wait for you, and a dog wary of its feet learns that hands grab paws, which is the opposite of what you want at nail-trim time.

An AKC article on using tricks at the vet suggests shake as a positive way for an excited dog to greet clinic staff and a help during paw exams. The same holds at home. A dog that hands you a paw and lets you hold it is halfway to a nail trim, and the paw hold you built is the position the clippers need. Our cooperative care how-to adds a chin rest and a stop signal for dogs that worry about the tools; shake is the gentler first step for a dog that is simply fidgety.

Cape Ann gives you plenty of reasons to look at feet. Winter sidewalks in Gloucester are salted, off-season beach walks leave sand between the toes, and from April to November ticks can hide between the pads. A cued shake turns each of those checks into a two-second job. When the nails do need cutting, our groomers clip them for $16, on their own or with a bath, and a dog that needs slower, more careful handling carries a $20 handling surcharge. Grooming needs no evaluation.

A dog that snatches its paw back, freezes, licks its lips or growls when you hold a foot is telling you handling worries it, and more shaking will not fix that. Brave & Balanced, for pups from 4 months, covers handling sensitivity and cooperative care, and Calm & Connected takes adolescents, rescues and adults with the same worries. Our trainers, led by Gabriella Pope, plan each program after a short assessment, and private sessions start from $94.

Shake also counts toward a title. In the AKC Trick Dog program it is a Novice trick: on the cue shake, paw or shake hands, the dog raises a paw chest high for the handler to take. The Novice title needs ten tricks, or five for a dog with its Canine Good Citizen on record at the AKC, tested by an AKC Approved CGC Evaluator in person or virtually. Our Canine Citizen Academy prepares adolescents and adults for the CGC test itself.