Saying please

[Dani]

As many dogs do, my puppy naturally gives a paw when he wants something. I can't quite decide whether to encourage this or discourage it. It is so cute, but I'm thinking that the full sized paw may not be!

I would love to hear what others think.

 

[lacey9875]

I personally would try to discourage it with, "No paw", because my Maggie has clocked me one time too many. She used to wrap her paw around my or my daughter's leg to keep us from moving.

 

[janices]

Don't encourage cuteness if don't want it being done when grown. It's usually not cute then anymore.

 

[ElvisTheNewf]

Elvis is NOT allowed to paw. He was doing it for attention, which he was already getting, so there really wasn't a reason for it. He has huge, heavy feet and can do some real damage on a bare leg. He doesn't mean to, but we nipped that in the bud as fast as we could.

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

Yup, its cute now, but really annoying when they are grown. Think about what would happen if your 120 lb dog paws a kid (or your bare leg for that matter). It hurts! I actually have a bruise on my upper arm right now from Maggie's paw (accident while we were playing). She barely touched me and it looks like someone grabbed my arm hard.

 

[Dani]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much what I thought. No more paws!

 

[OodlesOfNoodles]

You could always try and train it to a 'shake' or 'paw' command - Finn used to paw a lot, but as soon as we put the command to it, he stopped doing it unless we ask him for it. If he offers it without us asking, he gets a 'no shake' command.

 

[pecanpiepatti]

We trained the behavior to the cue "Gimme 5" ....... folks at dog shows love it when they come by for some loving. "Shake" is for shaking water out!

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

We trained the behavior to the cue "Gimme 5" ....... folks at dog shows love it when they come by for some loving. "Shake" is for shaking water out!

Haha. That's cute. We also chose something besides "shake" as that is for the water shake at our house too!

 

[OodlesOfNoodles]

We also chose something besides "shake" as that is for the water shake at our house too!

Haha I never even thought about putting that to a cue! That's a great idea...may have to think of another word at this point, but I like it!

 

[OodlesOfNoodles]

We trained the behavior to the cue "Gimme 5" ....... folks at dog shows love it when they come by for some loving. "Shake" is for shaking water out!

We use 'Gimme 5' for a high-5, up top and 'shake' for a low, more handshake-like one. Love the idea of 'shake' to get water out thought, will need to try that!

 

[Dani]

Great ideas thanks.
I have to laugh at him when it's feeding time as he naturally wants to give a paw but can't seem to decide which so he ends up doing a Mexican wave kind of thing!