Teaching "paws up"

I woke up before 3am this morning, just before Julian called. After talking to him for awhile, and eating breakfast I decided to teach Keisha "paws up".

In my case, "paws up" will be the command for her to put both of her front paws up on counters so she can pass money or items to cashiers, or for her to take money or items from them if I can't reach. It will also come in handy if I'm waiting at a counter that is too tall for the people behind it to notice me. I'm sure they will notice a husky's head popping over the top of the counter within seconds!

"Paws up" will also let her know that I want her to put her front paws on my legs. This will make it easier when putting her harness on, when she is passing me things, and when she is reaching things on shelves that are too high for me.

I will also use the "paws up" command when she is putting trash into trash cans, and helping with laundry. It's one of those commands that will be used a lot, and for a number of different situations.

I started taaching her, using the tv stand. It's at a good height for her (she can lay her head on it when standing), and she likes to lay the top half of her body on it already. Using a clicker, and some of her kibble, I was able to teach her this in a very short time.

I started off by tapping the top of the tv stand with my hand, and clicking when she put her paws on it. Next, I added the words "paws up" with the click. Then I said "paws up" and clicked when she did it. I'm sure I will have to work a bit more on this, but I stopped when she was more interested in going outside. There's no point in making her concentrate on things when she want's to do something else. It's not fun anymore then, and her full attention isn't on what I'm trying to teach anymore.

The great thing is, she is at the right size to do a lot more now. She was too short for a lot of the things before, but now at 18 1/2 inches high (at the shoulders), she can do a lot of the things she couldn't before, and a lot of things are not as difficult now.

Once she has "paws up" mastered I will be teaching her "under".