Many dogs enjoy learning skills.    And some of them enjoy it because it’s a time that they get to spend with their favorite person—you.  For those dogs who need mental stimulation, teaching them tricks will add joy to them.  And to you!  Imagine showing these skills off to your friends at parties.  And your dog probably wouldn’t mind being the center of attention in the party either.

How to teach your dog to “high five”

For dogs who come from a working origin, they like a job to keep them busy.  Both mentally and physically.  For those dogs, learning skills (or what we call tricks) use both their intellect and their sense of fun and their desire to please us and to spend time with us.  One easy trick to teach your dog is “high five”.   AKC has a video that explains how to do this.

If you want your dog to high five with his left paw, hold a treat to his right, so he has to shift his weight to the right.  This will get his left feet to lift a little.  You can pick up his left paw as he does this and give him a treat.  As he mastered this, reach out your hand, and if your dog lifts his paw, reward him. 

Next training step is for your dog to put his paw in your hand.  That is a higher lift than before—around the height of his elbow.  After he masters this step, then as you reach out your hand, and your dog reaches out his paw, turn your hand to face him like a “high-five”.  Follow with a treat.  Start associating the word “high-five” with this behavior.  And these are the simple steps.  You can watch the video on AKC here.

Enjoy watching Griffin performing his tricks.  He is trying so hard!  If you enjoy this video, you might also enjoy this one.

Article source:  AKC