Freckles does not understand the meaning of NO.

Good dog, bad dog. Duke perfectly understands the meaning of NO but he does reserve the right to disagree with that command.
Freckles, on the other hand, has no idea. Case in point. While watching TV Freckles will try to get attention by sitting next to you and pawing at your arm. Ignoring him works sometimes but even if you turn your back to him he will continue to paw at your back. I finally snapped last night and with a loud NO I pushed him off the couch. I know he had no idea what he had done wrong from the look he gave me.
Any ideas on how to get him to understand?

 

GOOD luck... My Boerboels don't know "no" much. Precious is the best at understanding it...but if I try to TALk sense into the oozing pooches when I'm unable to breathe any longer due to their weight on my lap...they tend to become heavier and larger even... if I ignore...they get the picture...but a shove and "no" tends to mean please continue the course of behavior and bring it up a notch for good measure...and YES look as cute as possible in the meantime... SHORT of a beating...nothign works except ignoring... Generally if they're in a particularly clingy mood we put them up for the night...

Askari is the worst... She tends to get this starry eyed look when she's in the process of insisting she sit on your lap...regardless of your protests... VERY funny but has it's limits... even fat and prego she's insistent...LOL...

 

If you let him do this sometimes but sometimes you dont then he's probably confused. What you could try is every time your watching TV and he paws at you give him a very stern NO, if necessary push him down or away from you and keep doing it until he gets the message, try and ignore the guilt trip he's putting you on with those eyes of his (I know how hard that is sometimes) but be consistant with him. Consistency is the key here. If that isnt working then you could use the word 'OFF', for example, if he jumps up at a counter or table, tell him NO in your 'stern' tone then 'off' in a calmer tone straight after, follow it up (as long as he gets off) with Good Off, if he jumps up again repeat it. He should get used to hearing Off without relating it to you being unhappy with him so the next time he paws at you, you should just be able to say off and he will stop.
Good luck.

 

yes, we taught Ranger and we're teaching Snickers "off". It helps a lot, you can tell Ranger to get "off" of anything, a person, a couch, the table, anything, and he will jump down. It really is very helpful, and much better than yelling "no" all the time. After he has been consistently told "off" for something, he usually won't get back on, since he figures out we don't want him up there. Right now though he is having trouble staying off people, particularly those with leashes in hand, just because he is an outside dog now.

 

I try to keep NO as a word meaning never. NO means this is something you can't do. Period.

For things that are allowed sometimes, I usually use 'enough'. Enough means you can't do this now, or you can't do any more of it right now. It's like barking. Barking is allowed to alert me to something I might be unaware of, but "Enough!" means "Ok, I know. Now be quiet."

Teaching "Enough" is a two step process. In this instance, teaching 'shake hands' is the first step. If you're dog already knows this, you move on to the next.

Get some treats, preferable chewy ones. Ask him to shake twice, and praise each time he does it. Then tell him "Enough" and immediately give the treat. He has to stop offering his paw long enough to eat it, so you praise him while he does it. After a couple of rounds like that, say "Enough" and wait a few seconds to see if he stops pawing long enough to look at you and expect a treat. He probably will, so you give the treat and praise the heck out of him.

Keep extending the amount of time between the command "Enough" and the praise and treat. The rational behind this is; to stop a behavior, you must first gain control of it. That means you say when it's acceptable, and when it is not. That's why you must first train the dog to do the behavior. Then you train him to stop doing the behavior. In this case, the dog may put his paw on you when asked. But when you say "Enough", he must stop.

 

I try to keep NO as a word meaning never. NO means this is something you can't do. Period.

For things that are allowed sometimes, I usually use 'enough'. Enough means you can't do this now, or you can't do any more of it right now. It's like barking. Barking is allowed to alert me to something I might be unaware of, but "Enough!" means "Ok, I know. Now be quiet."

Teaching "Enough" is a two step process. In this instance, teaching 'shake hands' is the first step. If you're dog already knows this, you move on to the next.

Get some treats, preferable chewy ones. Ask him to shake twice, and praise each time he does it. Then tell him "Enough" and immediately give the treat. He has to stop offering his paw long enough to eat it, so you praise him while he does it. After a couple of rounds like that, say "Enough" and wait a few seconds to see if he stops pawing long enough to look at you and expect a treat. He probably will, so you give the treat and praise the heck out of him.

Keep extending the amount of time between the command "Enough" and the praise and treat. The rational behind this is; to stop a behavior, you must first gain control of it. That means you say when it's acceptable, and when it is not. That's why you must first train the dog to do the behavior. Then you train him to stop doing the behavior. In this case, the dog may put his paw on you when asked. But when you say "Enough", he must stop.

 

i wish i could help you dukesdad. i swear to god my dogs dyslexic. she recently learned the paw [shake hands] command. now whenever i tell her to sit, drop or stay she gives me her paw! when i say 'thats not it' she sits there trying out all the commands to see which one im asking for. wouldnt suprise me if she thought no was yes.

 

You could also try teaching "go to your place" or "go lie down" so that if he is pestering you, you can send him away.

Someone else had problems with their dog pawing at them for attention. My Bonnie does it, too. I think if I were trying to end the behavior and "no" isn't working, I would try not giving ANY attention at all for the behavior - which means no speaking or touching the dog. Pretend Freckles' paw is poison. He paws you, you get up and leave the room where he can't follow. Don't speak to him, don't touch him, don't look at him. Come back in a few seconds. Rinse and repeat. It may take a good long while, a lot of patience, and will probably ruin your evenings for a few days at least. It all depends on what it is worth to you.