Reasons Your Dog Is Hitting You With His Paw
There are numerous reasons that will have your dog hit you with its paws.
Poking someone is one of the most effective ways of getting their attention, and dogs are aware of this as well! Pawing might occur more often when you discourage your furry friend from displaying other demonstrative behaviors or barking loudly.
In such situations, this behavior is a way for your dog to get your attention quietly. You might find your dog hitting you with their paw when you are busy and need to be more attentive to their requests.
If this behavior is displayed when you stop petting them, they want you to continue petting them or give them belly rubs. Pawing can also occur when the dog is trying to alert you about something.
When a dog hits you with his paw, chances are that they are looking for food or its favorite treat. You can tell your dog is looking for food if they only paw at you whenever you sit down to eat something. Your dog might learn to paw close to mealtime if you have a particular eating routine.
Do you give them table scraps or extra treats? This pawing behavior can quickly turn into rowdiness when you give your puppy human food, as they regard it as a reward.
Your Dog Is Showing You Affection
Petting doesn’t only work one way! Your dog might be showing affection and expressing it through physical touch. Some dogs might use their paws more often and make physical contact with someone they care about.
For dogs hitting with their paws is a peaceful bonding moment and might be used when engaging in playtime.
Some dogs might hit you with their paws because they are trained in the past. It is most common in adopted dogs or ones you got as adults.
If you have adopted someone else’s dog, you might not know the habits or tricks they exhibit. What you might view as weird paw hitting may be your dog’s way of shaking paws or high-fiving.
Loyalty isn’t the only aspect people love about their furry companions. Dogs are highly empathetic to their pet parents owing to their incredible emotional intelligence. Your dog might hit you with their paws to express sympathy for you.
A dog can tell when its parents are under stress, sadness, grief, depression, and anger. In these times, your pooch will hit you with its paws, howl, and bark, or he might simply lay close to you to give you comfort. It is their way of trying to console you and show that they understand.
A playful paw in the face can also be a cue that your dog wants some playtime. If they seem excited or worked up, they could be wanting to engage you in a game or ten. Although it might be time for play, don’t give in!
Only offer toys or start playing when your dog is calmly and nicely sitting or lying around you, or your dog will perceive its pawing as a behavior that will get it what it wants.
Your pup might hit you with its paws to apologize for its actions. To figure out if the paws are used to express guilt, you might notice other signs, such as a tucked tail, flattened ears, and a hunched posture.
Pawing you can be their approach to ask for forgiveness and displaying submission to pet parents at that moment. Some dogs might use this approach because it worked the first time they did it.
Displaying submission doesn’t mean that your relationship with your puppy is negative. However, hitting with their paws in submission means that your dog understands who calls the shots and gives you respect.
Hitting you with their paws can also be a sign of dominance, and this behavior is completely unacceptable. Your dog might use their paws to communicate that they are the one in charge. It is particularly true if a dog puts their paw on top.
A dominant dog will display physical signs that show no respect for its pet parents. You can pinpoint this if the hitting behavior is brutal or results in scratches. The majority of dominant dogs will aim for the face.
If your pup hits you with its paw on the face or harder than usual, it is time to take measures to control this behavior. It can be a phase in which your furry friend might act like a rebellious teenager and become impulsive.
Dogs are technically teenagers from about 6 to 18 months. During this period, they will test their boundaries (and your patience!), so nip the problem in the bud and stop the behavior immediately.
Why Does My Dog Want Me To Hold His Paw?
Dogs might want you to hold their paw to seek comfort, show affection, or apologize. In other instances, holding your dog’s paw can be a learned behavior pattern.
As mentioned before, holding your dog’s paw can be attention-seeking behavior and since the attention can be positively reinforcing, dogs might love the fact that we’re holding their paw just for comfort.
This can happen in situations where your dog truly feels uncomfortable, runs back to you, and stretches out his paw for you to hold it.
Pawing can also be done quickly if your dog is trying to signal that the situation might be a bit overwhelming for your dog.
Amalia will often slap her bear paw on me and then do nothing but stare at me.
While I’m sure it’s partly basic comfort (even for her as an overly confident girl), there’s another component.
It’s almost as if my dog is trying to comfort me (i.e. showing affection). What can I say, it does work pretty often.
Dogs can also want you to gently hold their paw in an effort to make something up as direct contact might confirm that the bond is still intact.
The last reason your dog wants you to hold his paw can have to do with learned behavior.
If you have a command like “shake”, “(give) paw”, or even “sit pretty” where your dog will reach out with both paws, you might get this behavior even if you didn’t ask them to.
I’m sure that’s the psychological motivation behind my dog’s paws sometimes.
Before allowing her to run off-leash or devour her meal, I’ll often do a couple of commands and “paw” is one of them.
Simply stated, your dog can assume that behaviors that were positively rewarded in the past, will be rewarded again.
If you do reward that behavior (through food, pets, or even just attention), it just confirms that their impulse was right.
Slap your dogs bum and see their reaction
Dogs can paw at you for a variety of reasons and it’s not always what you might think at first.
Some find this behavior extremely cute and even introduce the classic “shake” or “paw” as a command.
Others don’t like muddy paws meddling in their business, especially not if it’s served with a slap in the face.
But what’s truly puzzling to some dog owners is why their dogs offer them paws without being asked to.