Dog giving paw. How to teach your dog the command “give me your paw”

Or a tiny decorative Yorkie, there can only be one owner. For a dog, everyone else is members of its pack. It is the owner, first of all, that the dog must obey and respond to his voice. Therefore, one person should handle the puppy.

If your puppy already knows the "Sit" command, use this command to sit him on the floor in front of you. If this command has not yet been mastered, lightly press on the animal’s back, not far from the tail, forcing the dog into a sitting position. Be careful not to hurt your puppy. The puppy should be seated in such a way that he can easily reach you without getting up.

Perform the first exercise: Take it in your right hand and show the puppy a piece of your favorite treat. Hold the treat in your palm. Wait until the puppy understands that it will not be possible to extract the desired piece with his nose and will try to get it with his paw. At this moment, you should give the command “Give me a paw”, take the puppy’s paw in your hand and hold it in this position for several seconds. Make sure that the puppy's paw is not turned out or raised too high - this can frighten the baby. Release your puppy's paw, praise him and reward him with the desired treat. This exercise must be performed 3-4 times in a row, several times a day.

Do the following exercise: Sit on the floor and sit the dog in front of you. Command “Give me your paw,” lift your puppy’s paw with one hand and gently guide it toward your other hand. It should be noted that you need to raise the puppy’s paw to the level of his shoulders because... a higher paw position may cause discomfort for the puppy. Hold the puppy's paw in your palm for a few seconds. Praise your baby and give him a treat. It is recommended to repeat the exercise 3-4 times in a row, several times a day.

Choose the right time for training with your puppy. Never start training if the puppy is hungry, sleepy, or simply tired.
Do not handle your puppy if you are upset or irritated. Never punish a puppy if he cannot master an exercise. Give your baby a treat after each exercise. If you see that the puppy is tired or not feeling well, stop training. Don't forget to take breaks between classes. Show patience, kindness and perseverance - and the result will not be long in coming.

Teach your dog the command “Give me your paw!” won't be difficult. A funny trick can be used as part of a dance or sports program.

All that is needed for training is treats for reward, patience and a clicker, if used in training.

Learning process

The dog should already be trained to sit. Having prepared a treat and chosen a quiet place for training, the pet is commanded “Sit!” The animal must be completely focused on the owner. The pet is shown a treat so that it can see it in the trainer’s hand. Holding the food with your fingers, move your hand near the animal’s nose, maintaining the dog’s interest in the training process.

Most animals begin to sniff the hand with curiosity and make attempts to get the treat with their paw. If the dog tries to grab the treat with his mouth, then he is simply ignored, continuing to wait until he uses his paw. At this moment, the dog is praised and given a treat.

If the dog sniffs the hand, but does not try to touch it with its paw, then the hand with the treat clamped in it is placed closer to the level of the paws, pushing the paw a little with the fist. It is allowed to take the paw with your hand and give the pet a treat. This stage must be repeated quickly several times in a row. After such a “hint”, training begins from the first stage, because the pet will already know what awaits him and, expecting to receive a treat, will be more willing to put his paw on his hand.

When the desired result is achieved, the exercise is practiced with the pronunciation of the command “Give me your paw!” The exercise must be repeated daily 2-3 times a day for 5 minutes. In the future, the exercise is practiced in various places, during the game and under other distractions. The learning process will not take much time if you practice the exercise correctly.

In the future, when the pet begins to give his paw on command, gradually reduce the number of treats. Initially, a treat is given to the pet after each successful execution of a command. Then they reward him with a treat every other time, and so gradually the treat is given less and less often. If necessary, they switch only to a visual signal (hand gesture) or continue to reinforce the command word.

The appearance of a dog in the house is a very important event in the life of every family. A four-legged friend brings a lot of positivity to the house. To achieve mutual understanding with a new pet, it is necessary to teach it the basic commands: “Sit”, “Lie down”, “Stand”, “Place”, “Come to me”, “Nearby”.

Knowing these commands, living with a dog becomes much easier than if it knew nothing. The dog can also understand you perfectly, subject to regular training sessions, namely teaching the pet various tricks. The “Give Paw” command is the simplest element of circus training. There are several ways to teach this command.

The first method is called pushing. Many dogs already know how to perform this command, but just don’t know what it’s called. Usually these are the following breeds: poodle, border collie, terriers, shepherd dogs, etc. A dog may paw at you when it needs something or simply actively use its paws during play. This must be used.

Every time the pet puts its paw in your hand, we repeat the command “Give me your paw” and praise the dog. This method of training is the best and most convenient, but the only drawback is that it is not suitable for every dog.

Second method - development of a conditioned reflex. It is very simple and does not take much time for most dog breeds. We simply say the command “Give me your paw” and take the dog’s forelimb in your hand, after which we be sure to praise it. This must be done at least 5 times. After which, we simply say “Give me your paw” and extend your hand; if the dog does not perform the correct action, we do the exercise 5 more times and check the result again.

The disadvantage in this case is physical contact, which is not suitable for timid dogs, and the conditioned reflex is developed automatically without any thought processes of your pet.

Third method - expectation. It is suitable for shy and uncooperative dogs; the owner must extend his palm to the animal and wait for the animal to come up with a paw. After performing the desired action, you need to praise the pet, and then add a voice command to the action. The downside of this method is that it takes a lot of time, but for a timid dog this is the best option.

From the above we can conclude that teaching an animal this command is very easy. But don't rush to conclusions. There are several rules that must be followed when training; without them, all training will be ineffective.

The very action of a dog giving a paw means to it that she trusts you completely. If there is no trust between the owner and his pet, the dog will flatly refuse to perform this action. The authority of the owner must not only be earned, but also not lost. Usually, if a dog appears from puppyhood, then the owner is almost always the undisputed leader for it, as well as a faithful friend.

It will be more difficult if you are not the first owner of a pet or the animal came into your home from the street. In the second case, you need to gradually win the trust of the newly-made family member, only with affection, praise and attention. Authority can easily be lost if the owner behaves incorrectly. This may be in such cases as:

• Excessive harshness towards the dog or incorrect punishment (untimely, too strong/soft).
• Unstable psyche of the owner (attacks of anger, alcoholism, etc.).
• Lack of rules of behavior in the house (the dog does what he wants).
• Deception (when a dog is teased with a toy/food and then not given; they are called to go for a walk, while they put on a leash and tie it up, as well as similar situations).

The next reason why training results may be absent is lack of stimulus in the animal. The dog does not understand why it needs to follow the owner’s commands. Four-legged friends are by no means as selfless as writers and screenwriters make them out to be.

After each performance of a trick, the dog must be rewarded, especially if the team is in the learning stage. This could be: a treat, a toy; a word or a stroke. Reward must be appropriate to the animal's temperament. It is necessary to choose the right method of praise, as well as skillfully use it.

For active pets, rewarding with a toy is more suitable, and it must be given away for a while, thereby giving a short break from work.

Praise for food is usually universal, but is more suitable for less temperamental dogs. Cheese, boiled liver or tripe are used as delicacies; sausage or frankfurters can be used, but this is undesirable (they have a negative impact on the dog’s health).

The pieces must be small, otherwise the dog will eat during training, and such encouragement will no longer make him want to work. Also, most importantly, the dog must be hungry before training. If done correctly, the dog in training will just eat the standard amount of the missed feeding.

For breeds such as collies and shepherds, in most cases verbal praise is the best incentive to work. This includes the words: “Well done”, “Good”, “Bravo”, “Good boy/girl” and others. In this case, it is not the statement itself that is important, but the intonation of its pronunciation. The owner, when praising an animal, must pronounce the praise with joy and delight, you can even wave your hands, it is necessary to achieve a cheerful mood in the dog. If you see how your dog rejoices at the words, then verbal praise is done correctly.

The “Give Paw” command is one of the easiest tricks to teach a dog. If you follow all the rules of training, teaching your pet this command will be easy and simple.

Beginning dog breeders are interested in the question of how to teach a dog the command “Give me a paw!”, as well as others: “Place!”, “Sit!”, “Lie down!”, “Face!”. Many people want to know when is the best time to start training a puppy, what methods, techniques and exercises to use. About how to teach “Voice!”, “Face!”, “Lie down!”, “Give me your paw!” and others, this article will tell you.

Start of training

It is best to start raising a puppy at one and a half months of age. Although most dog trainers determine the beginning of training a dog on commands at the age of 4-5 months. But practice proves that many animals willingly learn in early childhood, and quite effectively.

In fact, the upbringing of any animal begins from the moment it first reaches its owner. The intonation with which a person addresses his pet, what words and phrases he pronounces, how, when and where he feeds him is already upbringing. Therefore, from the first minutes you need to be attentive, and first of all to yourself.

The importance of intonation and precision of phrases in relation to the animal

You should not raise your voice in the presence of an animal; the small creature may take it personally and become upset. Or it will get used to the fact that the owner often swears, and later will not react to his dissatisfied intonation.

Also, you should not coo with the puppy or say too many words towards him. Already from early childhood, the dog begins to remember some words, so all actions should be commented briefly and clearly.

For example, if a novice dog handler is given the task of teaching a dog the command “Give me a paw!”, then this is the phrase you need to say. And certainly not “Give me your sweetie, my friend!” And in the case when you want to achieve a feed specifically from the left and separately from the right paw, then you need to start with the words “Give me your right paw!”, “Give me your left paw!”

Three options

There are three main areas of teaching animals commands:

1. Incentive method (carrot principle).
2. Punishment or threat (the whip principle).
3. “Cat education” (the use of ready-made habits and desires of the animal, his personal initiative).

Most people know about the principles of “carrot and stick”. But only a few know what “cat education” is. Therefore, it is worth talking about it in a little more detail.

"Cat Education"

In fact, this is the simplest version of education, when you just have to carefully observe the animal. For example, you need to guess when it will choose a place for itself and go to bed. It is there that you need to equip him with a lounger and constantly repeat the word “place” when he is laying down.

If a puppy happily runs up upon seeing its owner and tries to attract his attention to itself with its paw, there is nothing easier than teaching the dog the command “Give me your paw!” exactly at this moment, repeating this phrase every time.

At the moment when the pet lies down on the floor, resting its head on its front paws, the attentive owner will definitely state: “Lie down!” And when a puppy barks and attacks a fluffy toy bear, of course, you should not laugh merrily at him, but pronounce the word “Fas!” in a stern, serious voice, as if it was not the dog acting out on its own, but the owner demanding that he carry out the command.

And when your pet starts barking loudly, you should definitely remind him that this should be done when the owner says “Voice!” Oddly enough, even very young children quickly grasp this.

Noticing that the animal is happily spinning around the room, chasing its tail, you can come up with your own command, for example, “Dance!” or “Spin!” Later, you can make a cool number with music, which includes an episode of “catching a tail.”

Encouraging way of education

However, you should not rely solely on the fact that the puppy will always tell his owner what to teach him. There are things that a person must teach his pet, whether the latter wants it or not. And sometimes the question of how to teach a dog the command “Give me a paw!” cannot be resolved by simple “cat education.”

Then the owner uses the “gingerbread” option. And in fact, before teaching a dog the command “Give me a paw!”, the dog handler must take care of giving the dog a treat. Of course, you can also use gingerbread - dogs love sweets. However, this type of food is not that healthy for puppies. It is best to use a piece of dry food.

But a well-fed puppy will not want to work for regular food. Therefore, before teaching your dog the command “Give me your paw!”, you need to wait until the pet is slightly hungry.

Method “Get something tasty!”

The teacher gives the food to the puppy to sniff and holds it in his fist. Naturally, the animal wants to get it, it will start poking its nose and spinning around. At some stage, the dog will try to help itself with its paw, trying to straighten the owner's closed fingers. Here you need to take your paw into your palm, repeating the command and give the puppy a treat.

Some owners manage to achieve success quite quickly. It is enough to repeat this procedure 4-5 times. If it is not possible to teach a puppy this way, then other dog trainers give other advice on how to teach a dog to give a paw. The techniques and exercises that reinforce the execution of this command are just as simple.

Hint method

Dogs are extremely intelligent animals. Unlike cats (which, by the way, are not inferior to dogs in intelligence, but are more difficult to train), they with all their essence want to please a person, are devoted to him, considering him the leader of the pack. Trying to guess what the owner wants from him, dogs are very attentive.

And since teaching a dog to give a paw using the “Get a treat!” method If it doesn’t work, you should use the hint method. The treat should also be clenched in your fist, but not shown to the puppy ahead of time. After saying the command, you need to lightly touch the animal’s paw near the elbow with your free hand. The puppy will instinctively raise its paw, because the owner apparently wants this. Here the person should quickly take the pet’s paw in his palm and praise him with the word “Well done!” or “Okay!” And then, without letting go of your paw, put the tasty treat in his mouth. Now you can let go of your paw - it’s not very convenient to eat in such an unnatural position.

And it should be clearly understood that the most important thing when raising any animal is:

• goodwill;
• patience;
• constancy of requirements.

The commands that a dog can learn are divided into optional and mandatory. Mandatory commands include such commands as “sit”, “no”, “stand”, “come”. Optional orders include “ride”, “voice”, “die”, “give me a paw”. The latter do not carry any functional load, however, they are necessary so that the animal can train and develop comprehensively.

And therefore, experts recommend training the dog and teaching it, first of all, to give its paw. But in order to do this, you need to know the basic rules of training, because you can’t just walk up to an animal and explain to it everything that is required of it.

Is this trick useful?

Of course, many people consider this command unnecessary, since it cannot be used from a practical point of view, but this turns out to be not entirely true. The command “give me your paw” can be used perfectly when you need to wash your pet, because it will be more convenient for the owner. The command will also come in handy when the dog needs to trim its nails. In addition, any training will educate the animal, regardless of what breed (Spitz, Shepherd, Pug), and therefore training will have a beneficial effect on the dog’s logical thinking.

It doesn’t matter whether the dog received special training under the supervision of a trainer or whether the owner himself does the training at home. Exercises must be repeated regularly, and in such a way that the animal feels calm and team spirit.

First team

Some of the first commands that an owner usually tries to teach his dog include the following:

Children in the family usually just love to play and pet their new friend. And adults always ask the question: “how to teach your dog to follow orders?” The “give me your paw” command is the simplest of all. Usually, owners begin to train their dog not only to teach it to think, but also because they can brag to their neighbors and friends about what a smart dog they have. In addition, this is a very useful command, because if the dog himself can hold his paw up, then the problem of wiping or washing his limbs after a walk will no longer be a problem. So, how to teach a dog the command “give me your paw”? How to teach a puppy to give paw?

What you need to know about training

Many owners try to teach their dog various commands not from the first days of its arrival in the family. Therefore, the question of how to teach a dog to give a paw will also be relevant for those owners who already have adult dogs.

Professional trainers note that:

Promotion

To begin with, the dog must be given the “sit” command so that it takes the desired position. If the animal does not yet know such an order, then you need to put a little pressure on the area next to the tail so that the dog understands what position is required of it. The distance between the owner and the animal should be minimal, because they will have to reach out to each other quite often.

Usually, a method is used for training that uses treats for the animal. This is suitable for all types of dogs, since every animal loves to eat.

Training without treats

It is not necessary to train your pet with food; you can do it mechanically. But this method can only be implemented with an adult dog, or an active sanguine puppy that does not need additional motivation.

The starting position remains the same. The man grabs the dog's paw and clearly pronounces the command, and then praises the animal. Next, you need to take a short break and then repeat everything again. And remember that the dog's paw should not be lifted too high, as injury may occur. You must also ensure that the joints bend like a human elbow and only at a right angle.

This method of training will require significantly more time, but if everything is done correctly, you will be able to make sure that the pet learns well and obeys.

Give me another paw

If the dog has mastered the previous command well, then you can develop another skill and teach the dog to give the second paw. To do this, the dog will need to give an already learned order, but after he gives one paw, the person gives the order “give me the second paw.” After a couple of approaches, your four-legged friend will learn to give one or the other paw.

It must be remembered that this is not a separate command, since it is only a variation of the basic form. And therefore, dogs usually extend one or the other limb to a person, even when they are not asked to do so.

The owner should always remember some tips that will greatly simplify the training of the animal..

Bottom line

When the dog understands the command well, you can move on to more complex exercises. You can pronounce the command much faster or ask the dog for a paw when he is in a standing or lying position. And also some dog handlers do not extend their hand to the dog at all, but give the command. Then the animal will hold the limb in the air, which will have a beneficial effect on the development of motor skills.

Usually, after 1 or 2 weeks of regular exercise, the pet perfectly masters new skills and thereby pleases its owner.

After the command is firmly ingrained in the dog’s memory, this exercise should be constantly repeated, even if the arsenal of commands is replenished very often. In this way, the animal can develop motor memory for the necessary movements. It is only necessary to adhere to clear training instructions, and also not to violate the above recommendations, and then the owner can count on the result that he expected. But it is worth remembering that you need to have a lot of patience, since the command may not always work out on the first try. This is why it is necessary to devote proper time to your pet so that it reciprocates.

Attention, TODAY only!