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My puppy Rocky is 16 weeks old, and I have been trying to teach him to give paw for the last two weeks, He's just not getting it. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have treats at the ready which I admit he gets after I get just so frustrated. :confused:
With my boxer after I taught him to sit, I would say shake and pick up his foot with my hand, shake it up and down in my hand and say good boy, then reward him with a treat. I did this repeatedly until he got the idea that when I put my hand out he would put his paw in my hand as soon as I asked for it. After he got that down I taught him "other one" so that he woud give me one and then the other. Do not reward him until he has achieved the goal, why should he learn any tricks if he is going to get the treat anyway? Also do not treat him every time, sometimes reward him a good boy and some petting, or his favorite toy, or he may become a dog that only wants to perform his tricks if he is going to get something to eat afterwards. Limit the sessions to just a few(5-10) minutes because he will get bord and you will become frustrated. Good luck....got any pics?
I posted pictures on the 3rd of March, I'd put them on again, but my husband did it and I don't know how to.
OMG!! He is absolutely adorable. Good luck, let me know if you get him to give five...Just remember, no goodies until you reach your goal but keep sessions short ;)
sorry, am not a big fan of the give paw trick. All of my dogs have either been rescues, or given to me for a better home. 90% of them have come to me with this trick, and well it is bothersome. for the simple reason, that everytime I ask a dog to sit, i get their darn paw! mostly on my person, on my face down my arm ect......It has proven a difficult trick to get them away from as well. I do not teach this trick.JMO.:)
My dogs ask for any treats they get by giving a paw.
All you have to do is get a treat and hold it in your hand. Show it to the pup so he knows it's there but close your hand before he can get it. You can hold you hand up a bit or put it on the floor at first. He'll probably nuzzle it trying to get to the treat and, sooner of later when his nuzzling and licking doesn't seem to be working, he'll try to displace your hand using his paw. When he does, immediately praise him and open your hand so he gets the treat.
Repeat this and he'll pick it up super quick. Picking the paw up yourself is more difficult for the dog to fathom because having their paw picked up by you and them picking it up on their own are two totally different things. It's bound to take ages doing it that way.
By getting him to use his paw on his own accord, it gets across to him much easier...that he has to touch your hand with his paw in order to get the treat.
Once he's ok doing it with your hand on the floor, if you start out like that, you can start holding your hand a bit higher and gradually move upwards.
Having him always ask for his treats in some way is good for maintaining respect with him knowing he has to do something you want in order to get what he wants.
Critter crazy - Some dogs do learn to paw at you even without being taught the paw trick purposely. They often resort to it when nuzzling and such don't work and so they give a paw instead.
My dogs learned the same way.
I tried to teach my crazy hound using this tactic, but he never advanced to pawing at my hand to get the treat... he would just continuously try to nuzzle at my hand from all angles until it was completely covered in basset slobber and / or in his mouth (yes my hand)... crazy guy would spend minutes trying to get it with his mouth... :confused: :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Canis-Lupess