The “Say Hello” game teaches your puppy to make contact with your hand.

Teaching the behaviour

• Show an open hand to your puppy. For this game this is now your “Say Hello” hand.
• Keep your hand close to his nose (it needs to be easy)
• Make sure your puppy can see your hand

As soon as your puppy touches your hand:

• Click
• Do not move the “Say Hello” hand
• Reward by using your free hand to put the treat in the “Say Hello” hand

Associating a sound to the behaviour

When your puppy understands the game, you can start associating a sound to the behaviour by saying “Say Hello” whilst you are clicking.

Very soon your puppy will associate the “Say Hello” sound with the behaviour.

Be patient, you need quite a few repetitions for this association to occur. Imagine if you were learning a new language. It takes time.

Giving the command

When you believe your puppy has associated the “Say Hello” sound to the behaviour, start to say “Say hello” before your puppy does the behaviour: “Say Hello” has now become a command

When your puppy becomes good at this game increase the distance; make your puppy chase your hand a little bit. It is a game, make it fun!