Now that your dog has learned how to willingly place their foot on a target, let’s now make this a bit more challenging by asking them to place the paw on your hand. This is going to be done through the trick, “Give me five!”
Please note, owners, it’s tempting to turn this into “shake hands” because our end goal is to be able to grab the foot, but it’s important not to. You want your dog to give consent to having their foot touched by placing it in your hand gently, and you’re not going to surprise them in a negative way by turning this into a grab.
If your dog is willingly putting their foot on a target, it should be relatively easy to transition to your hand.
Start with a Warmup
Ask your dog to put their paw on the target several times. This is to make it clear you are working with the paw today, and you still want paw touches to a target. Remember, we sometimes train a new thing on a different day, so without this warmup your dog may be confused. Clear communication is important for easy training.
Once you’ve repeated asking for a target touch and rewarding them for a successful attempt about 5 times, put your hand over the target and wait.
Let Your Dog Think
Operant dogs know that you want something. They know that when they figure out what that something is, it will be highly rewarding. They also know if they make a mistake and guess the wrong thing, it will not be punished. They are willing to experiment and give things a try. Your dog is likely operant now because of how much time we’ve spent rewarding them for trying new things.
Even if they weren’t able to do it in our last lesson, give them a pause here and see if they can make the jump to putting their paw on your hand. If they do, reward them lavishly.
Repeat asking them to put their paw on your hand with it flat on the target, and if they can do it 5 times in a row, go ahead and put a name on it.
After a few sessions with your hand flat on the target, try removing the target but keeping your hand flat on the ground. Then try moving your hand an inch or two above the ground, and then at chest height for the dog. If your dog struggles with any of these changes, just go back to the last thing and try again later. No pressure.
All of these things will challenge your dog and help work on the real goal—getting them used to positive contact with their feet and human hands.
If your dog absolutely refused to make contact when you changed from a target to your hand, see option two:
Fading the Target
Every dog is an individual. Some dogs may see your hand as entirely different from a target, and refuse to put their foot on your hand. If they’ve had a lot of trauma with having their foot grabbed, maybe they’re suspicious of making this contact.
If your dog is really reluctant to make this leap, try simply putting your hand next to the target. Reward them for stepping on the target with your hand close, then half-way on the target, and finally try again with your hand all the way on the target.
If your pup even accidentally touches your hand trying to put their foot on the target, shower them with treats and praise them. Let them know this is what you want!
Proofing
“Give me Five!” is a good one to proof because the more you do, the more your dog practices paw handling. Proofing means asking for this cue in a variety of situations so the dog is more likely to do what is asked in a stressful situation.
After your dog can readily achieve a paw touch on your hand with no other target, try these challenges:
- Paw touch 1” above the ground
- Paw touch at different heights up to chest height for the dog.
- Paw touch while the hand is moving slowly
- Paw touch in different locations
- Paw touch on leash
- Combine standing on platform with paw touch
Your dog will become very comfortable with foot handling as this course progresses, but there’s nothing wrong with staying at this level and working on it in a variety of ways, especially if you know your dog is very worried about foot handling.
We have two alternative homeworks here, one for operant dogs, and one for dogs that need the target faded. We also have an optional proofing sheet. Choose what you feel is best!
Worksheets
Similar Posts:
- Foot Handling: Touching a Target
- Introducing Foot Handling
- What To Do When Your Dog Training Stalls
- Introducing the Groom Lead
- Water Desensitization, Part 3
