K-9 LifeSavers

Though you want your dog to have good manners when greeting visitors, it's also nice to be able to send them on their way with a friendly wave good-bye. 

What to expect: your dog sits and waves his paw high in the air.  Note: if your dog is not yet shaking hands, you may want to work on that trick before attempting a wave good-bye.

1. Have your dog sit, facing you and ask him to shake hands.
2. Say "shake, bye-bye" and extend your hand a little higher than your normally would to hand hands.  Your dog won't be able to hold his paw that high, so his motion will look like he is pawing at your hand.
3. Draw your hand slightly away from your dog so he can just barely reach your fingers and repeat the command. Pull your hand back at the last second so that he is not touching it at all, but merely pawing the air.  Be sure to praise him so that he understands that the wave is the desired behavior, not the actual touch. 
4. Once he is doing this well on command, build upon it and sit beside your dog so that you can wave good-by together.

What to expect:

• If your dog shakes hands easily, you should be able to progress to waving within a few training sessions.
• If your dog tries to move toward you as you move away, try standing a few feet from your dog, with your hand stretched toward him.  Wait until his leg is already in the air before you pull your hand away so that it's harder for him to get up before he does the trick.  Reward him as he paws the air.
• If your dog stands at any part of this, return him to a sit before continuing to train.  He will be able to extend his paw higher from a sitting position.