Need Advice on a Pawing problem

[Teresa Marie]

Yes, I know Pyrs Paw. But this has me extremly puzzled on just how to stop.

I have a five month old male Pyr (Cloud) who weighs in at 75lbs. He is very sweet, very gentle, and very very clumsy.

He's taken to skipping after my five year old daughter, then tapping the back of her shins to get her attention. She shreiks and runs...he lopes after her, and tries to lick her all better while nudging her with his BIG paw.

No matter how short I keep his nails, they leave welts. It's just the way things are

He's finished his puppy classes and will be going to basic obydiance in two weeks but what can I do to keep peace between these two? She's misserable and rightfully so and he's confused and does his best to "fix the baby" with sloppy kisses and nudging paws.

Oh, his Paws are huge, by the way. I dont mean "Wow, big paws on that dog." but huge as in they are bigger then my hand

[CujoandShamus]

I have no clue, when Cujo was little he would run behind us and jump right at the back of our knees , he could knock an adult down. He doesn't do that any more but he is also four years old. I agree with the sqirt bottle thing, but that is what I use for training our dogs to stop bad habits. I know about the claw thing , the sure do have big strong claws . That is what they use when they are working dogs (guardians), the sad thing is he is just trying to play.

[Lyn]

I'm no help either.. but I can relate. We taught Bubba to 'shake' so now he will sit in front of you and rake his nails down your leg whether you say the command or not. I wish we never taught him that because now I can't break him of it.

I try to warn our company.. because as soon as he sits down I know the paw is coming. 

[Teresa Marie]

I think I'll try the squirt bottle, but I'm also wondering if perhaps I should bring Meghan along for Cloud's obydience training classes.


Porblem is, she's such an itty bitty girl and...has an even itty bitty-er attention span. I could see her trying to pet everyone's dog wile in the middle of exercises.

[Binky]

Binky, my 9 month old Pyr, picked up pawing from our other dogs to get attention.  As the others are small, we never gave it much thought until Binky pawed at my face and left a huge mark, narrowly missing my eye!  She also leaves big bruises on my legs, so your poor little girl must really get hurt!
I have been using a coffee can with pennies in it to shake when she paws (works great to stop barking too).  It works but usually it's too late.  Maybe let your daughter have the can and shake it when Cloud starts to paw?  Binky has also taken up pawing the other dogs and cats so I wish I could help more and will be reading to see other ideas!

[PennyK]

Yes, I inadvertantly taught Teddy how to paw.  He pawed at me one day and I praised him because I thought "How cute, teach him to shake-a-paw!".  Now he paws all the time!  This is not going to be fun once summer comes and we are all wearing shorts.  He also does it to my kids too (5&6) which isn't so nice either.

[macybean]

I would love to know the answer to this! Last week, I had a cut across my nose from Sadie pawing me awake. She usually only paws to tell me she has to go to the bathroom, but sometimes, I think she's just doing it to get attention or stand outside for a few minutes. LOL.

The squirt bottle thing is what I use with Riley when he's wild at night-barking at the cats in the bedroom-and won't settle down. I just show him the bottle if he's not listening to me when I say "bed" or "sleep", and he lays down. He paws sometimes (got me really good in the car yesterday), but usually he waits. When he started pawing, I taught him to "give me paw" or "shake" figuring maybe he would only do it on command then. Then I would praise him only for doing it on command. That worked a bit, and like I said, he's not as bad.

Sadie, on the other hand, loves the squirt bottle. If I have to bring it out to calm Riley down, she will get in front of it just hoping I'll squirt it. She thinks a spray-fest with the bottle is wonderful. She's the ultimate lab... Water?! Water?! Me! Me! Me! For pawing, I've tried holding her paws for a little longer than she intended. She doesn't like that, but it doesn't stop her. I've even started handling her paw like I'm going to trim her nails. She hates having her nails trimmed, so I'm thinking if I carry trimmers around for a week or two and pull them out when she paws me... Would that be wrong? I've got welts, scratches, bruises, the whole nine yards from her pawing. And I'm in Central Texas where we pretty much live in shorts year-round, so I'm a prime target!!

[Teresa Marie]

Okay, so far today the little quirt gun works.


Umm I think.

Cloud dosn't find the water offensive enough to run away, but he pauses and looks a bit confused. Meggi-Jo has a cheap  little novelty squirt gun she keeps hooked to her jean belt..and when he gets to close to her, she squirts him. So far she got his nose, and his eye. It does stop him in his track and when he stops, the other kids praise him for being a good boy.


Time will tell.

[mariannawoof]

My Duffy is a big "pawer"... he uses those paws to express alot and I too try to work on that...but its not an easy one... Duffy is 81 lbs... of full on love... and I too clip the nails but man they do leave welts... he's 11 months old...still a lot of puppy in him... but I just try to work on it... but I know what you mean about the paws...

xoxo marianna