Dog Whisperer

One of my duties as an au pair is to care for the family dog, Koda.  This involves taking her for walks, brushing her, and feeding her.  Since I get to spend so much time with her, I figured I’d try to teach her a few tricks. 

My first trick?  Shake a paw.

My whole strategy for teaching Koda this trick was to start from sit and then ask for her paw.  We then worked our way up from me grabbing her paw, me tapping her paw then grabbing it, and then just tapping it.  

Now, I am proud to say, Koda can (almost) shake a paw.

Her progress is very circumstantial.  She might do the trick if you have a biscuit in your hand.  And you poke at her paw enough.  And then it just kind of bounces upward.  But that’s progress, right?

Update: today when I tried, I didn't say anything.  I simply held a biscuit and looked at her.  She then sat down.  I then crouched down and looked at her right paw.  Her right paw then raised up.

I consider that success.

Now for my next trick...any suggestions?