Kroki

Question · Dog

How do I teach my dog to high five?

The short answer

If your dog already gives paw, hold your hand a bit higher each time and turn the palm to face it, so the paw meets your hand upright. If not, reward a lifted paw towards a treat fist first, then switch to a raised flat palm. Mark each tap, pay from your other hand and add “High five” once the move is steady. Kroki, a reward-based dog training app, practises the marker word and the hand target, two basics that help with hand tricks like this one.

How to do it, step by step

  1. Check what your dog already knows

    A dog that gives paw on cue is halfway there, so start from that. A dog without any paw trick starts one step earlier: a treat in a loose fist held just above a front foot, rewarded for every lift.

  2. Raise and turn your hand slowly

    Ask for “Paw” as usual, then over the next rounds hold your hand a few centimetres higher and tilt it until the palm faces your dog with fingers up. Change only one thing at a time: height or angle, not both at once.

  3. Mark the tap, pay from the other side

    Say “Top!” the moment the pads touch your palm and hand the treat over from your other hand, low and close to your dog’s mouth. This keeps the raised hand clean of food, so your dog aims at the palm and not at a smell.

  4. Give it its own name

    Once your dog taps the raised palm smoothly five times in a row, say “High five” just before you lift your hand. From now on keep the cues apart: “Paw” gets your flat hand low, “High five” gets the upright palm.

  5. Add the second paw and new people

    If you like, teach the other paw with your other hand and a second word. Then let a calm friend offer the palm. Some dogs find a stranger’s raised hand odd at first, so let them start with a lower palm.

  6. Swap some treats for other rewards

    When the high five is reliable, pay with food for most taps and mix in stroking or a short game for the rest. Keep food in the mix whenever you practise somewhere new.

Teaching a puppy instead?

A growing puppy should keep its palm target low, so it stays sitting and does not rear up on its back legs. Sessions are a minute or two and the treats are tiny. The puppy page shows how to teach a gentle high five from scratch.

Paw preference, petting and what works better

Plenty of dogs have a stronger side. Research on lateralised behaviour found that many dogs prefer one paw over the other (Wells 2003). If your dog always slaps the palm with the same foot, go with it: a one-sided high five is still a high five, and the weaker paw can learn its own version later.

Food is not the only reward a dog values. In choice tests, dogs stayed much longer near a person who stroked them than near one who only praised them, and praise alone drew them no closer than no attention at all (Feuerbacher and Wynne 2015). Once the trick is known, a scratch on the chest can replace some treats, while words alone are a weak payment.

Rewards also tend to beat pressure. In a trial with 63 pet dogs, the group trained with rewards answered “Sit” and “Come” better after a single cue than the groups trained with remote electric collars (China, Mills and Cooper 2020). For a fun trick like this, there is no reason to use anything but rewards.

Troubleshooting a grown dog’s high five

  • Your dog gives a low paw instead: you raised the hand too fast. Go back to a height where it succeeds and climb more slowly.
  • It scratches hard with its nails: reward the softer taps only, and keep the nails trimmed.
  • It jumps up to reach your hand: lower your palm. A high five comes from a sit, not from a leap.
  • It turns away from a raised hand: some dogs are wary of hands above their head. Keep the palm at chin height and approach from the side.

Variations once the basic high five works

  • Other paw: the same steps with your other hand and a second cue.
  • Double high five: hold both palms up and wait for one paw, then the other, before you mark.
  • High ten: a two-paw touch is harder on hips and back, so only try it with a fit, adult dog on a non-slip floor.
  • From a stand: teach this last, once the sitting version is solid.

When to see a professional

A high five is a light trick for most adult dogs. Talk to a professional first if:

The help pages list services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland only. Elsewhere, ask your vet practice who they recommend near you.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between give paw and high five?

Give paw puts the paw into your flat hand held low, while a high five is a tap against an upright palm held higher. Teaching them with separate cues lets your dog tell them apart.

Can I teach my dog to high five without treats?

You can use toys or petting, but treats are the clearest reward while your dog is learning. Once the high five is reliable, you can swap many of the treats for stroking or play.

How do I teach a double high five with both paws?

Teach a solid high five on each paw first, with separate cues. Then hold up both palms, wait for the first paw, then the second, and mark only when both have touched.

Why does my dog jump at my hand instead of tapping it?

Your hand is probably too high or moving. Hold the palm still at a height your dog can reach while sitting, and reward only taps that happen with the bottom on the floor.

Is a high five safe for an older dog?

A single-paw high five from a sit is usually fine for an older dog. Keep the palm low, train on a rug and skip the two-paw version if your dog has stiff hips or a sore back.

Can my dog learn to high five with my children?

Yes, once the trick is solid with you. Let a child offer an open palm at the dog’s chin height while an adult pays the treat, and stop if the dog gets excited and scratchy.

How long does it take a grown dog to learn the high five?

A dog that already gives paw often gets the idea within a few sessions. A dog starting from scratch needs a little longer, and a reliable high five on the cue grows with practice over several days.

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