# "Shake" = "go away"??



## hisserbee (Sep 16, 2013)

Hi everyone! I'm new. And sorry, I'm really long-winded, but here goes.

I got my little boy Watson a little over a week ago and he is now 10 weeks old. I've been training with him for a few minutes at least once every day, and the first week went great! He can sit, lay down, stand up, and he vaguely stays for a few seconds, but only does those consistently when I have treats. He picked up those tricks really quickly, and I got the book 101 Dog Tricks to teach him some more fun stuff while he's still a puppy (I've heard that teaching recall and leash stuff is better to do when he's older). I haven't been using clicker training, I've just been using a high pitched "good <command name>!" and releasing the treat as close to that as possible. I was trying to teach him the "shake" command since it's one of the easier tricks and he's always pawing at things anyway. The first few training sessions went fine. He wasn't getting it at first, then he started lifting his paw more consistently and seemed to get the idea of what I wanted. I've been trying to teach him by holding the treat in my fist near the paw I want him to lift.

Then, yesterday, I tried to train with him outside at work, which was totally a bad idea because there were way too many distractions, and he kept going back into the grass to lay down, especially when I was trying to work on "shake" since he didn't understand that one yet. I didn't reward him for that behavior, but I did go back to his basic commands and treated him when he did those correctly in the grass. Now, whenever I'm training with him and I attempt to work on the "shake" command, he immediately walks away and lays down somewhere comfy! I thought it was because he didn't know there was a treat in my fist, but it's like pulling teeth to get him to come back, even if I try to lure him out with the treat or just dump some treats on the ground. It seems like he knows he won't get that command and he can't bear my disapproval so he just doesn't want to train anymore. But I never punish him while we're training, so I don't know why he'd think that.

Anyways, I'm just at a loss as to how I made him think "shake" means "go away and don't come back." This might not be the best place to ask this question since this is more of a general training question than a Havanese question, but have you guys had any strange training problems? Or do you have any suggestions on how to correct this behavior?


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

My trainer has us work on an attention exercise where we face our dog, a treat in one hand and clicker in the other, then raise our arms out to the side. Dog's eyes follow treat when he glances at our eyes, click ten treat. Somehow in working with Leo, began associating the raising of my arms out to the side with lying down. So when I raise my arms out to the side he immediately lays down! :frusty: It's easy to confuse our dogs with our timing. I would stop working on the shake command for now. Later, use a clicker to try to capture the pawing behavior ( you'll need to "load" the clicker first). Then the cue you use for sake should be really different than the cue he's gotten confused about. Others may have different suggestions.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

He sounds really confused and shut-down on the "shake" right now. Some dogs get some behaviors much quicker than others. I'd go on to other things for a good long while before coming back to the "shake". Build his tolerance for frustration by doing things that are new, and a LITTLE harder, but not past the point of frustration shut-down. He's still a TINY baby. You've got 15 or more years to teach him "new tricks".


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## hisserbee (Sep 16, 2013)

Ok, thanks , I think you guys are right. I'll lay off the "shake" command for now. I do want to keep training him daily though, and I wanted to teach him something new because he's already so consistent at sit, down, and stand that I go through his handful of treats in about a minute. What do you guys think would be a good next step? I'm still working on stay, but he gets tired of practicing that pretty quick.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

hisserbee said:


> Ok, thanks , I think you guys are right. I'll lay off the "shake" command for now. I do want to keep training him daily though, and I wanted to teach him something new because he's already so consistent at sit, down, and stand that I go through his handful of treats in about a minute. What do you guys think would be a good next step? I'm still working on stay, but he gets tired of practicing that pretty quick.


He's awfully young for a formal "stay", but teaching him "place", a place to go when you need him out of the way is a very useful skill. Hand targeting is also great and can lead to more advanced skills. I'd also be workin on loose leash walking... Or true heeling, if you plan to do any ompetitive obedience with him.


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

welcome!

your pup is still SOOOOO young!! go easy on him!! For some reason 'shake' was THE hardest command for my hav to master... it took her 2 weeks and a lot of work for both of us as well as guidance from those on the forum to help me TEACH her!! Tillie is NOT a "paw-y" dog, so it was REALLLLLY hard to get her to THINK and to use her PAW instead of her nose to nudge the treat. Training is an art... and WE have to LEARN HOW to train our havs.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

I taught Charlie by holding my right hand to shake and at the same time with my other hand very lightly tapping behind his right paw. Couldn't use the clicker because both hands are in use but Charlie knows "Yes" as his marker as well so he picked it up in no time.

This is one of the tricks that I don't often do as I've been concentrating on other obedience commands and I realise now that he's forgotten "shake". Good reminder that even when a dog knows a command you still have to keep using it to keep it reliable.


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## tokipoke (Feb 13, 2012)

I train my dog by letting him offer behaviors to me. If I drill too much he shuts down. He also hates the sound of a clicker so I can't use that.

I held a treat in my hand, and with zero talking, body language only - I let him figure out what I wanted. First he would stare at me, then lay down, then sit, then wave his paw in the air. When he waved his paw, I gave him a treat. No words, just treat, and then I kept sitting. He tried again, he sat, laid down, then waved his paw in the air, I gave him a treat. Soon he figured out, if he waved his paw, he got a treat. So he would do this consistently. Then I built it up to where he would wave his paw - and at this point I could anticipate him about to wave his paw, so I would extend my hand to meet his paw. I treated him after that. Then when I offered my hand, he would offer me his paw. He consistently did this. When I knew he knew what I wanted, I then attached a cue word. Now when I saw the cue word, he shakes on command. He's learned how to lay down, shake, sit, stay, roll over, and play dead. I also keep training to about 10-15 minutes. For a puppy, you may want to do very short sessions spread out throughout the day. Any NEW command must be taught in a very low stimulating environment, like your living room. Then move it to your backyard, then the front yard, then the street, then the park, then the dog park. Gradually increase the distractions. If you immediately take a dog to a very busy area and try to teach them something new, they will shut down. It's like someone trying to teach you calculus at cocktail hour.


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