AllDogsWorld

Teaching your dog how to wave is adorable and it gives him an appropriate way to greet people. To perform this trick, your dog must raise a paw in the air while remaining stationary. You can teach him do this by using a combination of targeting and shaping. The shaping steps are :

1. Start with your dog in a sit/stay position 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Repeat this step until your dog starts raising his paw when he sees your outstretched hand.
6. As your dog starts to offer swiping the air readily without moving forward, you can begin to verbally label this new behaviour as ‘wave’.
7. 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 (waving hand) right before the old cue (outstretched hand), gradually fading out the old cue until your dog is performing the behavior when you are waving at him.
8. Add in distractions and practice in new places until the behavior is reliable.

Trick tips : Calm canines

Training involves many elements, but there are two things to remember. First, make the most of your dog’s natural bahviour by combining it with tricks that you put on as cue, as the paw trick demonstrate. Second, teach your dog the bahviour you want him to perform, like sitting, in the presence of other people and other dogs.

In order to grow into amendable, housebroken, obedient and well mannered adults, puppies need to be taught how to be all of these. The training plan provides examples of the steps to take to start training. Avoid overexercising your puppy, as this can cause serious damage to his growing bones and developing muscles, tendons and ligamen. Remember to keep training sessions short as puppies have limited attention span and get tired easily.

Week 1

• Teach the puppy to recognize and respond to his name
• Begin socializing: accustom the puppy household sights and sounds. – television, washing machine, vacuum cleaner etc
• Begin food training by handling the puppy while he is eating
• Start housebreaking and crate training

Week 2

• Begin collar and leash training
• Have the puppy meet people of all ages and sexes. Remember to praise and reward where appropriate, not scold. Simply ignore the puppy if he displays inappropriate behavior
• Begin any behavior training necessary such as for play-bitting or jumping up

Week 3

• Get the puppy use to seeing and being near other animals including companions pets and larger animals. For safety, put him under control so he can’t chase these animals

Week 4

• Introduce car travel
• Once he’s been vaccinated, introduce the puppy to sights and sounds on walks. Keep this short and close to home at first.

Week 5

• Gradually extends car trips.
• Start going to puppy training classs.
• By now the pup will be going to his crate for time out or to rest in ‘his’ den. If he is fully housebroken, you could replace it with a bed