Dog Community

That Paw Thing

Posted : 1/21/2007 9:21:41 AM

Ever since she first began to get to know me, Mercy has been doing this thing with her paw. If I'm petting her, she rolls over to get her belly scratched; and then she puts her paw on top of my hand. Same thing if I sit beside her; she's usually curled up with one paw pressed against my leg. She has a trick she loves to do where you hold out your arm and say "up", and she stands and puts both paws on your arm; I think this is where she learned to put her paw on people when she's being social.

I know this is usually a dominance thing; because the dogs try to pin each other down with paws. But this seems so very different; Mercy paws me only when she's being petted or cuddled in some way. Half the time she's belly-up when she does it!

So what is Mercy saying when she paws me? None of the other dogs do that.

random

Posted : 1/21/2007 9:36:16 AM

Chase paws me too, mostly in the morning when I'm in bed. He'll lay in his bed, just waiting for one of us to wake up. As soon as I say "Good morning Chase!", he'll wriggle over to me, rooing and squirming and thumping his tail. It's so cute and funny and it really helps me be more of a morning person! Anyway, I'll pet him and he'll put his paw on my arm and lick my hand and just seems to be in doggie heaven. It might be a dominance thing...to be honest, I've never thought about it. My dog is pretty dominant over all, but with other dogs. In my opinion, if a behaviour doesn't bother me, and if it stops when I tell him, then I'm not going to worry about it, regardless of what it might mean!

houndlove

Posted : 1/21/2007 11:03:25 AM

Well, since I know that Mercy has soom coonhound heritage, I'll let you know right now that coonhounds are particularily good at balancing on thier back legs and many do use their paws as "hands". It comes from being bred to stand on their hind legs at a tree for a long time.

But I know a lot of dogs who will sort of involuntarily paw when being pet. Conrad will make his front legs totally stiff when he's really enjoying being pet, and if you're in the way of his legs, you're going to get pushed. He can't help it, it's sort of a reflex.

The only time pawing is unacceptable in my house is if one of the dogs is purposefully pawing me in order to get my attention. That is not cool and I specifically will deny attention as long as the pawing is going on. But any kind of pawing that seems to be sort of a reflex or a show of affection from a dog while I'm already engaging with them I let slide. We can't expect our dogs to be robots, they all have little quirks.

Katie

Posted : 1/21/2007 11:09:24 AM

I definitely don't see the type of pawing the OP describes as a "dominance thing". My dogs, as well as the dogs in our extended family, will all put their paws on you while you are giving them a good belly scratch. I've always wondered if they think they are petting us back. [

] I think its a form of affection; they want to be touching us.

Some dogs are more paw-oriented than others, and use their paws more often. Cuma NEVER paws anything. It took me 4 years to teach him "shake". Blitz, on the other hand, is paw-crazy! He "shakes", "high-fives", "waves", and gives "hugs". Next on the list is teaching him to close doors for me. Maybe you could try turning Mercy's pawishness into tricks! [

]

The pawing I don't allow is the pushy pawing. If I'm reading on the couch and Blitz starts to paw me for attention, he is in for a "down-stay" until I'm good and ready to pet him.