Training a full body shake

Dear Darcie, Do you have any articles on training to shake? I have had some success by labeling the behavior, but often they will only shake their heads, instead of their whole bodies. I like to try to get them to get rid of rain & snow outside, not in the entryway! How can I train them to give a really good, whole body shake? C Crowley

Dear C, The way I train it is with clicker training. It’s the fastest and easiest way to train that I know about and the dogs love it.

If you rub the hair on the back of the neck to the top of the head a few times, the dog will usually shake full body and you can mark and praise that behavior.

But I would much rather catch the dog in a full body shake, they all do it, you just have to be ready when it happens. As the dog is shaking, click, say “Shake”, treat and praise. After a few practices, your dog should do it with the verbal request or hand gesture. I like to add a hand gesture too. My gesture for a full body shake is open hand, all fingers splayed wide and waving back and forth briskly. Don’t ask for this trick too often, only when you need it or once in a while when you’re showing off. Shake yourself all over a couple of times and you’ll know why I say don’t over do this one.

Shaking is a great behavior to know if your dog gets stressed in any situation. Dogs “shake” off anxiety energy, it calms them down.

Catching your dog in the act of anything and marking that behavior is an extremely fast was to train.

Get SitStay’s Getting Started Clicking Kit, The Thinking Dog, or any of our wonderful clicker training books and DVDs. Don’t forget to get your clickers and some treats, too. (SitStay.com has the best assortment of Good for Your Dog treats than any other store, hands down.)

Start clicker training, start doing things with your dog you never thought you could! Thanks for asking! – Darcie