Shake Baby, Shake

I have been reading a book on teaching tricks and decided it was time Gimme learned to shake hands. 

The book recommended holding out your hand with a treat in it and waiting for them to paw at your hand in the course of mugging you for the treat.  I knew that was too much like the way I teach Doggie Zen, so figured it would be confusing for Miss Gimme. 

So instead I held my hand really low to the ground, near her paws.  I clicked one time when she fidgeted with a front paw.  The next time she moved her paw I happened to slide my hand under it so she touched me as her paw came down and I clicked/treated that.  She is so smart and that was all it took.  She quickly started pawing at my hand.

We had to sort out how I hold my hand to get her to paw the way I want it.  She tends to use her paw to grasp my wrist.  For now I'm turning my hand sort of sideways (fingertips pointing across my body) and cupped like I have water in it.  That worked to get her to start laying her paw in my hand consistently.  I want to change my hand signal to a more normal orientation, so that she'll shake hands with other people. 

Gimme very quickly learned to offer the paw on the same side as the hand I'm extending - so she's ambi-pawstrous.  And in just two short sessions, I am able to extend my hand to her from a normal standing up position, though I have to bend over a little to get it low enough for her to shake comfortably. 

She's just such a smarty...