Teaching Smash to Shake paws

How to Teach a Dog How To Shake Paws.

Begin bygiving the Sit command and have your dog in the "Sit" position.

Say “Smash, Shake Paws”, and then gently take hold of one of your dog’s paws and lift it off the ground. Put his paw back on the ground, then praise and reward him.

Smash's favoitire reward for such behavior is lots of petthepuppy.

Repeat this a few times, and then try it again several times throughout the day.

After a couple of days, try giving your dog the command without picking up his paw.

If he raises his paw by himself, make a big fuss so he knows he is doign a great job!

However, if he does not lift his paw, don’t be discouraged. Instead, go back a step and practice lifting his paw for him for another couple of days.

Some days Smash does better than others.

We learned this trick from Sit Stay Fetch.

Bad dogs tend to happen to bad people, study shows

People who own "high-risk" dogs are much more likely to be high-risk themselves, a new study says, with vastly more criminal convictions and traffic citations found among those who own dogs that don't play well with others.

Read more in the Edmonton Journal


I have observed this myself that children and dogs mirror the emotions of their caretakers.

Walking the dog

Isn't it amazing to watch your dog while he is walking on a leash with you. That is when he is not pulling and tugging you all over the place.

I mean after you have learned how to teach your dog to walk on a leash.

As your dog walks calmly beside you, note how observant he is. Dogs are always very keenly aware of their surroundings. They smell and taste everything they find along the way. Their ears are hearing the slightest sound. Their eyes are constantly scanning the surrounding watching for any thing that moves.

We can learn a lot from our dogs as we walk them. Next time you walk your dog, try to be as aware as he is. You may not want to taste that squashed bug like he does but you can take time to let your mind be free of thoughts.

Just observe what is there. Describe it to yourself as you see it or just talk to your dog. This simple exercise of describing in great detail that which we observe was the foundation of Socrates school of learning in ancient Greece.

Just taking time to be aware of your surroundings will open your creative mind and allow you to think more clearly and find solutions to what is troubling you.

All this just by walking the dog. Isn't life great?