Hugo

[nightgaunt98c]

We have added a puppy named Hugo to our family. He's 6 months, and we've had him since he was weaned. He's a mix of English mastiff and Cane Coral. He's been a very good dog so far, no unexpected problems. The unexpected one (and I looked through pages and pages of posts and googled it without seeing anything pertinent) is that he swipes his paws, similar to a cat. Hes not trying to hurt us, but he's such a big, strong puppy that he can break skin. I'm not even sure what steps tonyake yo curb this behavior. I do have a friend who has an English who says hers did that as a puppy, but stopped as he got bigger. Should I just wait for it to pass on its own and have patience? Any advice at all is welcome.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Not unusual...Bailey at 4.5 years still reaches out with a paw to touch me and get something or just to make people pay attention. I guess you could call this "swiping" with her paw.

When other dogs are in the house and start to annoy her, she'll sit on the couch and "throw paws at the other dog." I get this is some sort of go away, you annoy me type of move. Go with it...it's not a problem.

 

[kingmark]

We have added a puppy named Hugo to our family. He's 6 months, and we've had him since he was weaned. He's a mix of English mastiff and Cane Coral. He's been a very good dog so far, no unexpected problems. The unexpected one (and I looked through pages and pages of posts and googled it without seeing anything pertinent) is that he swipes his paws, similar to a cat. Hes not trying to hurt us, but he's such a big, strong puppy that he can break skin. I'm not even sure what steps tonyake yo curb this behavior. I do have a friend who has an English who says hers did that as a puppy, but stopped as he got bigger. Should I just wait for it to pass on its own and have patience? Any advice at all is welcome.

Welcome to forum

 

[DennasMom]

I'd look at why he's doing it... if he's doing it to get your attention, and you don't like it... ignore it or walk away from him when he does it (i.e. punish him for doing it by removing that which he wants... your attention).

If he's doing it because he wants YOU to move... do the opposite... move closer IN to his space... again... don't give him what he WANTS if you want this behavior to stop.

If he's hitting/swiping you hard enough to break skin, I'd "YELP" and either give him another command (like 'sit') or just walk away... so he knows he hurt you... the Yelp & Redirect method was what worked best with Denna when we were working on getting her to stop using her mouth on us (puppy teeth hurt!!).

He's a cutie! Welcome to the forum!!

 

[Harrygto]

welcome

 

[Nik]

Diesel used to do this all the time. He still occasionally does. We like to say he is a very "handsy" dog. When Diesel does this it is him trying to get our attention or trying to tell us something. The action is very similar to a little kid tugging on your shirt sleeve to try to make you pay attention or do something they want. Don't reward the behavior. Figure out what the dog is asking for and then give a series of commands to make them earn the thing they are asking for. And if Hugo is accidentally hurting you when he does this (not uncommon but also might mean it is time for a nail trim) then do as DennasMom suggests and yelp and make it clear that this hurts and you dont' like it. It takes time for them to learn and for them to get over that puppy excitement. But, this behavior is pretty common and can be mostly unlearned.