gimme five

[AlphaMale]

How do I teach my dog "give me five". Slightly different than shaking hands.

What I have in mind is to let someone lift his hand and wave it. When it touches my hand he immediatly get the treet. Would that works specially when he is not the initiator of moving his hand.

thanks

[GretaJack]

Jack and Greta both know gimme 5. As well as wave good bye or hello. If your pup shakes, you are well on your way. Now you just have to teach him to differentiate between your verbal and hand cues. For shake, I use the command shake and put my hand down low for them. FOr Gimme high 5 I just say 5 and put my hand up higher. It is the same command more or less. They are striving get your hand with their paw. But I put my hand up higher so that when they stretch out their paw they, hit my hand but they don't have any thing to rest it on.

As far as waving. I stand next to my dog and give them the signal to wave (I imitate a young child waving, exaggerated) and say "say bye" or hi. They both sound a like so the dogs know this as one command but it serves two purposes

[Leslie]

I started Sidney with shaking hands and once she had that down I flipped my hand to the "low five" position and said "give me five". She touched my hand with her paw as though to shake. I gave her a treat each time and then each time after, I had my hand a bit higher until we had the "give me five" down pat. She was easy.

Gretta does the high five. I taught her when she was quite young and still wanted to jump up to greet you. When she'd jump I'd put up one hand to meet her paw, took a step back (so she couldn't connect with my body) and said "high five". In between we worked on down since I didn't want her doing it when not requested. Nobody likes a dog that jumps on you.

They both do their little tricks on command and people are really impressed. Little do they know how easy it was to teach them. Good luck and have patience.

[Moo]

Kirby's "Hi-5" is completely different than 'shake a paw'. High five is two paws on my hand, above his head, from a 'sit pretty'. Dog sits pretty/beg position, which I continue to reinforce. My (right) hand is open, with a treat between my thumb and my palm. I put my hand just above his head, so that naturally, he will reach for it with his paw, if he can't reach it with his tongue. As long as I continue to reinforce the position, he will not break it. Praise, treat or click and treat.

[AlphaMale]

OK

We are almost 90% done. I would expect one more session to achive very satisfactory "shake hands" not gimme 5 yet. It was not easy, but at least got somewere.

Moo
The problem I have with your method, that Spiky jumps very high to get the treat. His eyes focused on it, I could not get him to lift one paw, untill I litraly lift it up for him. When I got to trial 30, it triggered ok.

The reason it is 90% and not 100% because every once in a while he lift his left paw instead of his right. I think they are like humans they have a prefered hand depending on which half of the brain is dominating the movment.

[Moo]

Kirby lifts both. It depends on the size of the dog, for the type of 'high five' you would want to do. Based on description, I think the three of us (Greta, Lesie, I) are giving slight variations of the trick. With mine, you have to have the 'sit pretty' down (not too hard), other wise, he will be thinking of a better way to get the treat.

I know exactly what it's like to have a jumpy dog, our newest trick is, I put toys on my head, and he jumps to get it. lol. The thing is, to have the treat just above the head. They can't jump from a 'sit pretty' position, their legs don't move that way. What you don't want it the arms to go down, and then being able to move and get the treat by other means. You may want to put your free hand right below his forelegs in the 'sit pretty' position, so that he can't lean forward and fall into a 'sit'

Psst, sit-pretty is not sit, it's more of a 'beg'. Sitting on his bum, but both forepaws are up.

[Dax]

Originally Posted by AlphaMale

OK

The problem I have with your method, that Spiky jumps very high to get the treat. His eyes focused on it, I could not get him to lift one paw, untill I litraly lift it up for him. When I got to trial 30, it triggered ok.

The reason it is 90% and not 100% because every once in a while he lift his left paw instead of his right. I think they are like humans they have a prefered hand depending on which half of the brain is dominating the movment.

If you offer your right hand - the right paw should be offered and vice versa.

Hold the treat behind your back - it's there but the focus should be on you. Instead of holding your hand flat - you can hold it parrellel to your body. He should try to bat it. That's your high five.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by DaxAriel's Toy

Instead of holding your hand flat - you can hold it parrellel to your body. He should try to bat it. That's your high five.

Oh yeah, heh, heh, I forgot to tell you that part That's why I said to hold it between your thumb and palm, so that you can keep your hand flat as if you were giving a high five.

[Leslie]

[quote=Moo] Based on description, I think the three of us (Greta, Lesie, I) are giving slight variations of the trick. With mine, you have to have the 'sit pretty' down (not too hard), other wise, he will be thinking of a better way to get the treat.

Yes Moo, gimme 5 is done from the sitting position ( I forgot to mention that little detail). Gretta's high 5 is done from the standing position. Both done with my hand open and facing away from me so their paw comes in contact with my palm.

Alphamale: Glad you are making progress. Keep at it, you'll soon have it mastered.

[erdog3]

How about a cuddle, that is fun to teach too, not just a jump up, but with Ellie, I touch my shoulders with my hand and say cuddle Ellie. She will first put one paw on one shoulder, then the other paw. Then you say, give cuddle properly and she will put her head against your neck. The trick is to get them to do it without licking you. lol. That took the longest.
She will also get on her chair, or off, or in the car with the click of my fingers.