Just checking in on this thread.....
Jackson had terrible balance when it came to "sit pretty" but he's finally gettin' it. He used to sit up in the position and hold his arms/paws straight up instead of curled over (if ya know what I mean...) but now he's finally doing it the right way, hehe

I *even* got him to hold up a paper sign in his mouth in the sit pretty position since we're working on 'take it' and 'hold it' as well. It was about 2 seconds but better than he did before! I really want him to be able to hold up a sign in a picture or a video - I think that'd be the cutest.
My dad's dog does the sit pretty thing like Uni with his paws waving lol. He always does that.
Maximo... maybe try getting them to sit pretty with a wall behind them so they can get more balance?
And yay Katie on shake! Took Jackson forever too

go figure, the dog learns how to play dead before shake!