"Give paw" vs "Gentleness matters"

[FrederykBlot]

Hi

 

I discovered an issue in a fun way :)
We wanted to add a trick to Loki as a new stimulation, which is "give paw" because we figured it was an easy one, and a prerequisites before more fun stuff like "check" and "double check"
 

We saw the usual method is to have a treat in a closed hand, and when he paws, release the treat, and add the cue after some time
But when we tried to do that, he actually start licking the hand,because when bitey when young, we played "gentleness matters" :D :D
So now, everytime he sees our closed hand, he would come by and either touch with the nose (as playing "target") or licking (as playing "gentleness matters")

 

We had a good laugh the first time, seeing we had trapped ourselves :D
But would you have any advise to learn "give paw" if we can't use the closed hand method ?
We don't want to abandon "gentleness matters" and "target" on closed hand, specially now, with the teenage phase, he's getting sometimes a bit rougher to get the treat if he's a bit excited

 

Thank you

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Yes, there are other ways to train a dog to give paw. 

 

One of them is to have the dog standing in front of us, we would hold a treat between our thumb and index finger (letting it protrude a bit) and offer it next to the dog's face on the side opposite of the paw you want him to give.  When you offer the treat on this side, as he gently mouths is, he should put the weight on the leg on the same side and the leg that you want to use for "paw" should lighten. You would do this repeatedly until you notice that he very slightly lifts the paw as he puts weight on the other. With several reps, muscle memory should kick in and he should start to notice that "every time my paw is lifted, I get the tasty treat. "

 

At some point, you can start to gently touch/ hold the paw when it lifts and mark that and reward. Do this very slightly initially and then increase touch more and more until you are fully holding the paw. With several reps, he should start anticipating your touch, by lifting and placing his paw in your hand.

 

Once the behavior is more fluent, add the verbal cue "paw" just a second before he places the paw in your hand. You should also start to fade the food lure so that it is no longer protruding from your thumb and index finger and and start giving it only after he gives paw. Then at some point, try saying "paw" without presenting your food lure next to your dog's face. When he paws, praise and give a jackpot of treats.

 

Splitting the exercise and intermediate steps may be needed.  Be patient, it takes some time. Last beagle I trained this way took 3-4 days or several short reps spread throughout the day. 

 

***Be careful, pawing can get out of hand, so make sure that you praise and reward only when you ask for it, ignore all pawing that is un-cued (no positive attention, no negative attention).

[FrederykBlot]

I don't understand how I got it, but going good so far 🙂

 

https://youtu.be/wBLDn9UgSVo

 

however I understand what you mean by going out of control : he now offers paw before the cue, and also when I give the hand for target 😂😂

[Adrienne Farricelli]

That was quick learning, and Loki seems to have already mastered it! Great job!

Even though you are super sonic fast in giving several cues in a row he seems to be keeping it up like a pro.

I love the enthusiastic end to the session. 😍

[FrederykBlot]

Haha It came more from him. 

He offered paw before I asked so I tried target also

But I guess he was in a good mood and reacted quite frankly to the exercices, and thats why the rythm was fast