Frito Paws Wednesday

Happy Paw sniffing everybody! We are off for a few-day camping trip with the dogs and the van in the Virginia mountains...and maybe even some hot springs, if we can find them!

Don't forget the back paws

As we all know, many dogs are very expressive with their front paws and are easy to teach all sorts of front-paw-centric tricks. Even many shy, reactive, and anxious dogs love to use their front paws to interact with the world. 

Back paws? Not so much. Many reactive dogs actually have little consciousness of their back paws, and are nervous about using them. This is why training that involves the back paws can be used in building confidence and ultimately helping the dog feel more secure in his body and even overcome some of his reactivity. 

When I coach Reactive Dog class at Your Dogs Friend, each dog practices using a PVC ladder that makes them more conscious of paw placement. This helps them feel more grounded in their bodies, which diminishes anxiety and reactivity.


We have worked with training a "Scoot"--getting the dog to back up, ultimately onto a different surface. 

1. Have dog standing in front of you
2. Lean forward slightly
3. If dog steps back, however tentatively, click and treat!
4. Withhold clicks and treats until dog is taking a step back
5. Add hand signal like you're shooing away something. Then add verbal cue like "Scoot!"
6. Place board, book, carpet scrap, or any different surface behind back paws. Click and treat when back paws touch the alternate surface

Whoa--what's that new sensation under my paw pads? This exercise gets dogs really thinking about their back paws. Once dogs are thinking about those tricky back paws, there's no telling what new frontiers of confidence and self-knowledge they may experience. 












Be very patient! Sometimes those back paws would like to go anywhere besides on a novel surface. Stay positive and don't get frustrated.

The next step? Maybe we'll be as brave as Tena at Success Just Clicks, who has trained her dog to back up onto a tree trunk--yes, a vertical tree trunk! That's some serious back paw confidence-building. What's your favorite back paw confidence building trick? Or are your back paws just fine the way they are?

More Paw behaviors

There is another really simple paw behavior with some fabulous real-world applications (beyond indulging your own sick fascination with paws). This gem of a skill is one I learned while coaching Reactive Dog class with Your Dogs Friend, and we called it Paws Up. 

Fozzie loves Paws Up with Healing with Whole Foods

You place a book on the floor and get the dog interested in it by tapping it and being excited. Most dogs will sniff it, which you can click and treat initially. Then hold out for the paw to touch the book before clicking and treating. 

Lamar's more of a Raw Foods Cookbook kind of a Paws Up guy

Then, delay the click/treat until the paw goes on the book. Gradually, by withholding the click and treat longer, you can get the dog to put both paws on the book. Most dogs will get very enthusiastic about pounding the book with both front paws like its just the coolest thing in the world.

You can then name it Paws Up, and you can prompt a Paws Up when you're on a walk and next to a curb, rock, or any raised object. 

This has great applications for reactive dogs, as something to do in response to seeing another dog--instead of reacting. If he has learned it well at home and has a strong reward history--and if you have done plenty of work with classical conditioning so he has the presence of mind to do anything when he sees another dog--Paws Up can be a great way for a dog to choose an alternative to reacting (while showing off his pedicure).

Are your dogs natural paw offerers? Or have you had to come up with some clever ways to get them waving and slapping?

Paw Behaviors

Some dogs, like Lamar, seem to take great joy in using their front paws. 
When I first laid eyes on Lamar in the Santa Fe Animal Shelter, he was sitting there in his cage offering one front paw after another at me. Small wonder that he became my foster dog, then my foster failure.

Many dogs will paw at you for food, attention, and just for fun; they pick up shake and high five and all sorts of cool front paw behaviors just like that. 

If your dog doesn't offer High Fives or Shakes all by himself, they are easy to teach. Have your dog sit in front of you. Hold a treat to one side of his nose, so he has to lean over a bit to sniff it. Encourage him to get the treat--many dogs will paw your hand to get it. As soon as he does, click and treat. If he doesn't give his paw automatically, you can touch it gently. If he lifts it even a little, click and treat. 


The other night, inspired in part by our book Dog Tricks: Fun and Games for your Clever Canine, we decided to do some real work on building paw behaviors. One we hadn't tried before: The Wave.

If your dog knows a High Five or Shake already, hold your hand out and prompt this skill as usual. Click and treat when he does, and do this several times. 

Then, hold your hand higher. Prompt "High Five" or "Shake," but delay the click/treat until the paw goes higher.
Repeat, but delay the click even longer so that the paw is lifting up high, then lowering and lifting again before you deliver the click and treat. Say your usual cue, then say it again, then end by saying "Wave" before you click and treat. 

Since Lamar and Fozzie love to offer front paws, we haven't had to start from scratch with teaching these tricks. Both are on their way to a stellar wave--though Fozzie lifts his paw so high that he falls forward before he can lift it again! (I need to work on finding the right height to hold my hand, so he can keep his balance). 

Paw behaviors are a great way to inject some fun into your training routine. Since a paw lift is a calming signal, they may even be a way to help your dog communicate that he is not a threat to other dogs--so you can cue a paw lift when you encounter another dog, to lessen the likelihood of tension. And, they are a perfectly healthy way to channel a certain obsession. How do you feel about paw behaviors?

Paws

I can remember, as a child, just holding a back paw in my hand and being absolutely delighted by its fragrance, its shape.

That ridiculous, curved inertness. The way you could hold it out and the dog would just look at it, perplexed. The fact that it reminded me of a microphone and I could speak into it, and the dog still wouldn't object.





Why paws--especially the back ones--held such fascination for me I am not sure, but they still do. Fortunately I have been able to channel my interest into harmless and perhaps even productive pursuits, like holding those paws steady as I massage them and trim the nails, or coaxing them into a "shake" with a touch and a hot dog.

And fortunately, over the years of coming into contact with so many different sizes and shapes of dogs, my interest has broadened to include cool, fresh noses, flappy or satellite dish ears, silky or hairbrush-like fur--indeed, the whole dog package.

But I still think paws are amazing, and they never fail to cheer me up. In fact try this Miracle Cure that works every time for me: when the worries of the world get you down, when things just seem so...darned...big, and heavy, try focusing on something very small and light. Take in every contour of that paw, the pink or black or vaguely golden pads, the roughness, the dry, salty fragrance, the shape.

Drink it in, and really focus on it.

Did the paw make you smile?