We've been tring to teach Chewie to shake for almost 2 years (he is 2 and a half). He has stubbornly refused to lift his paw off the floor even just to humor us. He will sit and plant both front legs firmly on the floor. When we lift one and demonstrate shake it is actually a challenge to get it up because he is resisting.
We try to use Booker as an example of what we expect from Mr. Chew. When you say shake to Booker he jets out his right paw with delight. If you have something really good (a piece of hot dog or a bully stick) he will do the "double shake" and give you both paws.
Chewie has stubbornly refused to shake - and I mean refused. We're sure he's refusing just to spite us. He's an exceptionally smart dog, he's used the "potty paw" (an electronic "I need to go out" device that is essentially a wireless doorbell that he stomps on when he wants out) since he was a few months old. [Then he abused the potty paw and we took it away - stomping on it every few minutes whenever he didn't get his way got to be very irritating.]
Well, yesterday we tried again with some new treats. First he tried his default response, the scoot. He sits on his butt and sort of scoots so his back legs stick out. Quite cute, but certainly not a shake. THEN...to our shock, after a few more requests (and us stubbornly refusing to release the treat), his paw gently, limply lifted from the floor. Not quite a shake, but his paw left the floor! A fluke?
We got another treat and tried again. Again after about 15 requests he bored of us and limply lifted his paw.
Hope lives on.
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