This sounds quite trivial and actually, in the big scheme of things, it is!

My very large pup, 40+ kilos, was taught by teenage Daughter to give a paw. She thinks its funny now that whenever he sees something he wants, he just bashes the living daylights out of me and whoever is unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it. I am getting a bit fed up with being clawed to death and I now look like I've been in an accident with all of the big black bruises all over me. He swiped me in the face yesterday and cut my lip quite badly. Very swollen and bruised today...look like I've been in a street fight Lol.

How do I actually teach him not to give me a paw? Never had to do this before as some of my dogs over the years have given paws but they have all done it gently. This one does everything in a very clumsy way, much clumsier than previous ones.

I have tried ignoring him when he does it, turning my back on him and then when he finally sits nicely, without paws, giving him what he wants but I am concerned that he is now totally confused...although this isn't hard! Trouble is, he whacks me when I'm not expecting it. If he gets a toy stuck under something, wants to go out, gets given a treat for doing something well when we are out training, up comes the paw before I've even got it out of the pocket, you get the idea! I have told Daughter no more requesting paws and so far she has stuck to it, doesn't need to ask for one anyway as he is so quick to give a paw.

Although he's not the sharpest tool in the box as he is in such a hurry to get everything right and falls over himself, he really does like to please so I need to attempt a way of doing it so that he understands it. I haven't tried anything yet, although have a few ideas, I want to get it right and keep to the same word and training.

I had the very same problem with Spud.
Eddies's friend taught him to give a paw( against my wishes, it's something I really dislike ) and it became a right pain.
It took ages to get him to stop, I just did what you are doing, but it took a good year, and a bollocking to the mate who had taught him in the first place .

same problem with one of mine, he had been taught it in his previous home. I have never managed to stop it completely and often have a cut lip, black eye etc. but now he has dementia maybe he will forget about giving paw along with all the other things he is forgetting?

Giving paw is something I never taught and asked people not to ask for/teach as with the British weather all too often the paws are going to be dirty ;)

good luck with that!Ive never taught that either but I still get bashed in the chops regularly,in the same way one of the dogs sticks her nose under my forearm and gives a sharp upward push,I put my arm down and it immediately flies upward again!Great if you have a drink in the hand!You WILL fuss me mum!But at least mine are only about 18kg!

DD as a teen taught my one bitch (a pup at the time)   to 'give kisses'   :-(     against my explicit wishes.    I have never managed to stop her :-(    She is never rewarded for it and it's never requested.   But at the age of 10 she still pokes her nose into our faces, and generally makes a nuisance of herelf with others too because she wants to 'give kisses'     :-(     Quite a sensitive soul she can't be 'told off' for it or she is crushed.    I have however managed to get her to do it a little more gently these days so that she isn't breaking our noses :-)

So in the event that it's a behaviour he won't give up, how about teaching him to give a paw gently?

I have managed to teach dogs to 'be gentle'  with small animals and babies, by stroking their paw in my hand and saying very quietly in a whisper,  'gently' or 'gentle'  and praising very calmly when they get it right.

With my remaining two who were barking at everything, including us when we came out of the toilet   I never could get them to stop.    I have managed to get them to wuff quietly instead of sounding like the hounds of hell all the time, which is a compromise I'm happy with :-)

> Giving paw is something I never taught

Both my dogs give a paw (taught by my daughter) but only on command - it has never been a problem as they never do it otherwise (and they aren't large dogs fortunately !). Maybe putting a command to it and ignoring otherwise ??

Thank you, although I did laugh when reading your comments,

I will try to teach him "gently" or "nicely" - Nicely is a word that I forever seem to be saying to him in a very calm voice but he doesn't get the concept of it...yet.

The problem with him is, he whacks you with the paw and before you have a chance to say or do anything, the paw is back on the floor and then he is pawing at you again. So quick. Yet, like all of his breed, he absolutely hates it when you hold his paw, groom his paws, I have to regularly as they are great big hairy things with dew claws on the front as well, nightmare doing his hind paws as he has double dew claws and is very precious about it...he also needs to have the fur cut short in-between his pads as he is just so hairy. (Briard)

Think I will work on the ignore, turn my back and also when he gives a paw, tryand teach him the concept of nicely...Lol

I would work on teaching him to give a paw on command using a clicker.  Ultimately you want to offer him an outstretched palm for him to put his paw onto.  Teach him right paw and left paw.  Once you have that teach him to put the paw back on the floor (reward that too).  You can teach him to lift his back paws/legs too...

Have you used a clicker before?  The key is being clear about what you want, breaking it into easy steps and precise timing of the click.  Look for the clicker training book by Karen Pryor

Whilst you are dong this, teach a whole other bunch of things too so that he learns the types of behaviours that please you.  I have a dog who years after we did this type of training on a regular basis will show me his entire repertoire every time I get the clicker out.  It's a training method that works and bright dogs really thrive on the opportunity to show you what they can do :)

Excellent, thank you! Yes I have worked with a clicker before, with my older girl and she did very well with it. I continued using my fingers to snap and she learnt to do to that what she did with the clicker when we were out and I forgot to take it *stupid* but the fingers did work. But I will need some reminders as I will be rusty. I will look at the book...

Teaching him with the clicker I think will work as there is a bright dog in there somewhere. He is one of those that takes longer than some to learn things but once he's learnt, he never forgets but does get bored with only one or two things so teaching him lots of other tricks will appeal to his low boredom threshold

Thank you once again :-)

I have a bitch that barks just because she can.  The pigeon that comes into her garden.  The cat on the cat food advert.  People on the bus going past her house.  So the wuff gently sounds a really good idea to me. 

But shaking a paw is not as bad as my elderly Bearded Collie bitch.  She just grew and grew.  Think Shetland Pony. As a pup she loved walking up to me, thru my legs, then stood there while I bent over and fussed her.  Over the years I am so used to her that I open my legs when I see her coming, and she just gets stuck half way now.

Recently we were at the vets, and it was a lady vet that I didn't know.  She turned her back to get something out of a cupboard.  Cassie saw legs and thought oh good.  And tried to get thru the vets legs but from behind.  You have never seen a vet move so fast.  I think it was the first time she had ever been goosed by a dog!

Teach him a new trick, the few dogs I've taught stuff to I found they would often repeat the last thing they were taught or the one they got the most attention for doing when they wanted something.
So if you teach a new trick and keep getting him to do it while never asking for paw again you may be able to get him to shift to doing the new trick instead.

as there is a bright dog in there somewhere

You've been given some very good suggestions, so nothing for me to add but just wanted to say I think your young lad sounds lovely!! Hard work but a dog that can brighten your day just by looking at you lol.

just started with clicker training . DAB advise is spot on . You will need loads of treats too :)

I did laugh at your comment about dogs walking through legs Jean SW, all of my Briards have done and do this, there must be something in the herding breeds that makes them do it, although none of mine do it to people that they don't know. When my pup does it, he literally lifts me off my feet, he is so big, complete monster that he is.

He is a lovely lad and yes, very hard work but he is one of these dogs that has a huge personality and you can never be angry at him. Not that I get angry, more frustrated sometimes but he only has to look at me....of course he knows this and plays it for all its worth. I actually think that he might be getting the message as this morning, I had a piece of shredded wheat in my hand to feed to one of the small animals and he did his best sit, upright, looking pleadingly at me with NO paws. I of course gave it to him, don't normally but I wanted to reiterate that this is desirable.

I will definitely start again with clicker training though, lots of treats is the norm in this house, bribery works! ;-)

I did that with mine and really regret it! My other two dabbled in Heelwork to Music so I taught them give a paw (well one only waves instead of giving the paw properly lol) but they are fine, hardly ever offer an unwanted paw. But I was bored waiting my turn to do recalls at class one night with the youngest and tried to teach her, and she picked it up in about 3 seconds, she's really clever! Only problem is when I put her on the table at shows and try to bait her to stand still, she keeps offering a paw..... :-p

Dill,how did you get them to tone down the barking?I have this prob with my youngest collie-she winds the others up -result chaos!Shes been gobby since we had her-the only new pup ive ever had to bark while youre doing her food!Now its anything-Someone spookily standing still(!),some of the dogs we pass,anyone who looks"different",cats-yet we have 4-.At least shes stopped yelling at cardboard boxes and fallen tree trunks,which leads me to hope pathetically that she may be improving!

You have to teach them to 'speak' on command first ;-)     Difficult with more than one dog.    Best way is to make sure the others are out of earshot or they'll all join in and it's chaos, so when they are out on a walk, or even put in the car down the street for half an hour - but only in deepest winter ;-)     And you need a trigger to make them bark at first.    With ours it was somene to knock the front door.

I was surprised how difficult it is to teach a dog to bark on command!   Even the gobby ones LOL   But once they have mastered it,  the trick then is to get them to speak 'softly' instead of shouting.     I started whispering the command and only rewarding the quiter barks :-)

It isn't perfect with these two, but at least it's bearable now :-)     My oldest bitch was really good, but then we only had the one dog when we trained her ;-)

Right!Thats the next step then! Actually it mite be fairly easy to teach mine to "speak"as they go off whenever I get the hoover,food processer,liquidiser  or tin opener out!getting them to do it quietly would be a godsend!thankyou!

Get a good supply  of really  high value tiny treats in Pam, and you'll have no problem.    But you will need to trrain them separately  until they've got the idea ;-)

I taught Zuma to 'speak' using treats and a clicker but after about the 2nd day of trying I changed it to 'talk' as every time I began saying 'ssspeak' the darling dog very obediently 'ssssat' :-D

heheh,zuma is too well trained!bless!

Thanks Dill,i ll do that,mine love liver cake!

Hmmmm...........the 'paw thwack'!  Fortunately (?) my boy is a mere 36kg, but ten years on we've never eliminated it totally.  I think it became an ingrained behaviour due to the fact that it provoked a reaction (pain response generally!) every time he did it......especially when from the rear on bare legs in the summer!!

Unfortunately, he seemed to transfer it to getting whatever he wanted........so feeling cold? Want the gas fire on?  Yep!  Sit in front and thwack hell out of it!

Feeling hungry?  Want something from the fridge? Again, thwack hell out of it and UNFORTUNATELY the first time he did this he managed to get the wretched thing open.  However, child lock has solved that one, although not protected the paintwork on the door.

Feeling like a rough housing game with one of the other dogs?  Yep! Thwack hell out of chosen victim.  HOWEVER, he only did this once with boss bitch who flattened him big time and then flattened him again for good measure.  :)  Must admit there has been many an occasion when I have been sorely tempted to emulate that bitches behaviour when he has scored yet another direct hit on the back of my calves.

Clicker training did nothing to help eliminate the behaviour.....all I can say is that with age the behaviour has diminished somewhat.  Final piece of advice???
Keep the claws dremelled right down at all times!

Same problem here, biggest dog has deliberately never been taught to give a paw but if he wants attention he puts one on your knee and keeps hitting you with it. If you ignore him too long he turns it up by turning his claws in until you are hurt and do respond to him, usually by screaming in pain.

He also takes great delight in clobbering me with his monster sticks when out, I hate having to bear my flesh in the Summer as I look like a battered wife most of the time!!

Yep, that's why I refused to teach "shake a paw" as well.  In my experience they very quickly learn to initiate the paw on their own and even if you taught them to only do it on request, other people reward them for their paw offering.  Boom, they never do it with you, only unsuspecting others.

I use something that might work to untrain it, maybe.  I hold onto the paw and don't give it back.  This works very well for jumping.  You have to be careful, if they jump and panic a bit you have to know when to let go so they don't twist a leg and hurt themselves.  Works for a single paw too.  Paws that sneak up on to my chair sometimes encounter a light pinch.