Don't eat the target

I'm trying to teach Tom some behaviors that involve his paws (like shake and wave). He isn't a dog who offers his paws/paws at things naturally, so I thought I'd start by teaching him to paw at a target.

I was doing this by placing a treat under the target (a tupperware lid) and holding it down while he nudged it until he pawed at it.

Easy peasy, he offered the behavior pretty quickly.

I tried lifting the target about two inches off the ground.

He tried eating it.

At first I didn't want to correct him because I don't want to discourage him from offering behaviors, but after he really chomped it up I had to take it away.

Unfortunately, he thought that was WAY more fun than clicker training.

Should I be correcting/distracting him from chewing/mouthing the target?

Yes. Chewing is self-reinforcing; it's too much fun for us to expect it to go away on its own.

Why not teach shake first? IMO shake is a lot easier to teach, and then once he's putting his paw in your hand, you can use that to teach him to put his paw on the target.

I personally wouldn't involve food as part of the target, but rather save the food for the reward AFTER he touches the target. You can shape it gradually so if he comes close to touching the target, but doesn't quite, that's okay at first. Reward. Then raise the ante. Or you can even meet him half way with the target if you're holding it. But don't do this for very long or he'll come to expect you to move the target every time forever after. It's just to get him started. Make a big fuss when his paw hits the target. I hold various targets up for Chulita...mix them up...sometimes it's a coaster on the coffee table or the remote control. Then I set it down on the floor and try to see if she'll generalize and transfer the "touch" cue with the target regardless of where it is...of course, making it easy as possible at first.

If your pooch is apt to chomp on lots of things, try to choose things he won't find attractive to chew, but will have fun touching with his paw. Yes, I would not tell him "no" or anything because that can make him hold back and not try other things that might work. Simply remove the thing and try using something he won't chew on.

If you're primarily doing this not so much to touch lots of targets, but more for shake or high five or whatever, just use your hand as the target. But again, keep the food out of the picture until after he touches. You can hold your hand low or wherever it's easiest for him to touch it....at first. Then gradually move your hand in different places...left, then a little right, up, down etc. Mix things up so it gets on stimulus control, not that touching is only done in one way. I'd also vary the targets while you're at it, just in case you want to use that for some other trick. But for only shaking, you can help him to shake if you want and not wait for shaping. Just pick up his paw and shake it, then reward. I don't use "force" for everything, but in this case, it can go really fast just to do it. Of course, then he's not using his own noodle as much. So, it's up to you.

When he starts touching fairly reguarly, then add in your verbal cue...not until. If he offers the behavior at this later stage (after you think he's associated the verbal cue with the behavior) without being cued, I would discourage you from rewarding it because dogs can become pests with their paws if they're reinforced for unsolicited pawing.

1) I'd also like to teach him behaviors like pawing a door and going to certain spots using the target

2) I can't get him to touch my hand. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get him to do this, please share. He also won't paw the target unless there's food under it (I'm giving him treats from another source, not the same treat under the target).

I could try just lifting his paw, but I've tried that in the past with little success.

I don't know if it would work with him but how I got Traveler to touch my palm was to move it around really fast in front of him and he would try and catch my hand and I could mark it. Then I graduated to just plopping my hand down harder in different places and he would pounce on my hand and I went from there

Does that make sense? At all?

^ That's almost exactly what I did with Finn, too. He had a bit of paw-phobia up until about 8 months ago when it finally clicked in my head that he paws at things that are moving around quickly and making noise (like when I wiggled his tug-a-jug in front of him, etc).

So I made a little maraca and shook my hand around with it. C/T when he pawed my hand, attached a command to it, and now he has 5-6 different paw tricks. :rofl1:

Would he try to eat your hand if you put a treat in your fist? I put a treat in my fist and wiggle it around until they do something with their paw. You quickly drop the food when they realize you are clicking for paw stuff, not mouth stuff.

I tried the treat in the hand, he doesn't try and eat my hand, just nudges it and nudges and nudges it (and drools on it) and then eventually just sits there staring at me. Even if I move my hand around quickly (then he thinks it's a mouthing-my-hand-game).