Whether you’re looking to add another cool trick to your pup’s repertoire or are looking to improve your relationship and communication by teaching a variety of different and fun training exercises, learning how to teach a dog to give paw can be a great way to achieve both. For most dogs, this is a fairly easy trick for them to learn so you’re sure to enjoy learning this one, while your pup gets to show off their ‘pawesome’ skills!
In this article, we’re going to go through the steps to teaching your dog how to give you their paw, and some do’s and don’ts to make sure you both have fun with this simple exercise. Read on to find out all there is to know about this cool party trick.
What you need to teach a dog paw
For most dogs, this is a fairly simple trick to teach, and you don’t need any equipment, although there are some things that are definitely required:
- A quiet space with no distractions – this will help your pup focus and concentrate on you.
- A carpeted floor. You should not ask your dog to lift a paw off of a potentially slippery surface.
- Treats – have a good supply of your dog’s favourite treats but make sure these are both tiny and healthy. Things like small bits of cheese can work well - or something else that you know they love and will be happy to work for.
- A well-rested and eager-to-learn pup. Don’t train when they are sleepy or have just had a meal!
- A puppy who has already got to grips with the ‘sit’ exercise as that will be their starting point.
- Time and patience
Step-by-Step: Teaching Your Dog to 'Give A Paw'
There are two ways to teach this – depending on your dog and what their own natural behaviours are. You will quickly find out which suits your puppy the best.
Method One: The Luring Approach (11 Steps)
Follow these easy steps to make sure your puppy becomes a ‘paw master’ in no time.
- Ask your puppy to sit and reward them for doing this a few times.
- Then once they are sitting, take a treat and close your fingers around it so they can smell it but not get to it.
- Get them interested in the treat but hold it quite low – halfway between their nose and their paw.
- Have your other hand (the one you are going to want to ‘shake paws’ with), palm open, right beside it or even underneath it.
- Let them try and work out how to get the treat. They will no doubt try to use their nose or their mouth first.
- Once they discover that won’t work, they will try other things – and one of these will probably be to lift their paw to see if scratching at it might work.
- As soon as they lift the paw, say ‘paw’ and give them the treat.
- Repeat until they can do this easily and then move on to waiting till they lift their paw to your hand (don’t hold it too high – especially if you have a tiny dog or very young puppy - a few inches off the ground to start with is enough). Your aim is that they put the paw onto your open hand.
- Getting to this point can take several sessions - so don’t rush and keep these lessons short and sweet.
- Once your pup has got the hang of this, just hold out your flat hand with no treat. When they put their paw onto it, say the cue word and give them the treat from your other hand.
- Practise, practise, practise – until your puppy will put their paw onto your hand on the cue word alone.
Method Two: A Hand-friendly Approach for More Mouthy or Paw-Shy Pups
If you have a dog who uses their teeth hard or who are so mouth focused, they will just keep chewing at your hand to get the treat, you need a different method.
For them, from a sit, hold the treat quite high at the end of their nose and slowly move it to the side. You want to move it slowly enough that your dog leans and puts their weight on one front paw. Move it just a little further, and their paw will lift slightly off the ground. They you can say “good” (or use your usual reward marker word) and reward with the treat.
With each successive repetition, your dog will begin to realise that lifting the paw is what earned them the treat. Then you can go to Step 4 above.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching A Dog to Give you a Paw
All training should be fun and enjoyable for you both so don’t rush, keep easy session easy and achievable, and always finish on a high. It is important not to put too much pressure on your pup, as you want them to look on learning as a fun and rewarding thing to do - as that is what helps improve the bond between you.
Here are a few important things to avoid when training your puppy to give you their paw.
Don't Hold on to Your Dog's Paw
Never grab or hold on to your dog’s paw. This trick is about them offering their paw to you and putting it on to your hand. Many dogs find having their paws held on to unpleasant or even scary. This trick is about fun and trust.
Keep Training Sessions Short & Sweet
If your sessions are too long, there’s a high chance that your dog will become bored, and their attention will wander.
A dog’s attention span can be short – and a puppy’s even more so – especially when they have to do repetitive things so it’s best to keep training sessions to less than 5 minutes.
For a puppy, lifting a paw can be tiring or even physically demanding - so keep your hand low.
It’s far better to do several very short training sessions on the same day than one long one. Puppies learn far more if they have a break - or better still a snooze - to absorb what they learnt, and will usually come back to the next session far better than they ended the last one.
Train When Your Dog is Alert & Eager
Before starting training, it’s a good idea to make sure that your pup is ready and eager to learn. You want to make sure they are awake and not sleepy - and that you are not training straight after a meal (when they aren’t going to be interested in working for treats).
Also, make sure they have water available and have been to the toilet.
Keep treats small, healthy and tasty
Often people overestimate how big a treat needs to be. A piece of cheese or other treat that you use as a reward should be no bigger than half the size of your little fingernail.
When you are teaching a dog to give paw, you will be rewarding them a lot - as that is how they learn the behaviours you want - but you don’t want them getting either full or fat!
Like all training, teaching a dog to give you their paw should be fun and full of positive rewards. Never get impatient with your puppy during their training, as this will undo all the hard work you have done and can make them afraid of training with you in the future.
The key to teaching your pup new tricks is keeping it fun. With enough patience and enthusiasm, your dog will quickly master the giving a paw and any other behaviours and tricks you might want them to learn. If you want to teach your pup more tricks, read our article on the 5 Cool Tricks to Teach Your Dog next.
FAQs
Giving a paw is a fairly easy exercise for most dogs, and if it is one you want to teach your puppy, you can do it as soon as they are happy and confident sitting on cue.
Like all tricks, they are totally optional to teach however everything you teach your puppy using reward-based methods improve the bond between you as you work together to master each trick or behaviour. Giving a paw can also be a good exercise to improve your dog’s confidence and their trust in you (just remember not to grab their paw or hold onto it as that can have the opposite effect).
All training sessions, especially with a young puppy, should be short and sweet. It is far better to do several 5-minute sessions in a day than one long one.
Every dog has their own preference when it comes to treats - but you need something your dog enjoys enough that they will work for and these need to be tiny, tasty and healthy.
Purina Editorial Team
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