An expert dog trainer has revealed the one trick that he never teaches to his pets, although most dog owners do.
Canine behaviourist Will Atherton has amassed more than 900,000 followers on TikTok, where he regularly dispenses dog training advice. He also helps followers select a dog breed suitable for them, based on temperament and lifestyle.
In one of his recent videos, Will turned his attention to tricks. And there’s one Will advises against that most dog owners will teach to their pets without even thinking.
“This is a trick that I would never teach my own dog,” Will said. “Now I completely get it. When you’re getting your dog and you want to train them, I know you want to teach them some fun tricks. But the trick that I always tell people to avoid is the paw trick.”
The “paw trick” is when a pooch offers its paw to its owner, similar to a human offering to shake your hand. Although it’s “very easy” to teach, and a “nice thing to show off to your friends”, Will said there’s a major issue with the paw trick.
He went on: “However, dogs do something that I like to call ‘offering behaviours’. If you give your dog a treat every time you teach them to do paw, which is how you should teach them to do paw, when they want a treat or they want some attention, they will offer a behaviour.”
Will said this could mean your dog will “just start swatting at you” when it wants some attention or food. This could be “quite dangerous” if you own a large dog.
Will concluded: “I would much rather a dog offer a behaviour of sitting and waiting calmly with good manners, than offering a behaviour of swatting at me.”
Will’s video has since been viewed more than 460,000 times, and people commented to share their own experiences with the “paw trick”. One said: “Taught my dog paw 10 years ago. He’s now 11 and I get hit every time I stop stroking him.”
Another said: “We taught our dog paw and shake […] and he is correct, everytime we have a treat he does one of them to try and get it.”
