What Is Shaping in Dog Training? Advice from Your Dog Trainer All Sydney. Shaping is a dog training method that gradually teaches a dog a new action or behaviour by rewarding him during each step of the behaviour.  Using shaping to train your dog, it's good to break up a complicated action into smaller parts. This way your dog will learn and understand it more quickly. I personally use shaping a lot. If you are interested in learning how to do it yourself, you can book a class with me, your dog trainer all Sydney.