Rescue Dog Come Out of Her Shell After Learning to Play Game

Lucy was a shy dog when she was rescued by her guardian. So her new mom thought of something to help her understand it was OK to approach her.

Her mom wrote in the video’s description, “I started playing the hand slap game (aka hot hands) to help my dog Lucy, a rescue, come out of her shell. Now she’s a pro!”

Lucy’s mom said she trained Lucy in “hot hands” in the following way:

“I started by teaching her how to ‘shake’, ‘high five’, then ‘down.’ While down, I’d put my hand out and she would paw it, then I’d praise her. After she became comfortable with that I started slowly pulling my hand away and she’d chase it with her paw. It took a couple of months but I think that really helped her understand that it was okay to approach me and open up.”

Watch Lucy in action in the cute video below.