Has your puppy been taught yet that YOU are the alpha in the "pack". This would be a good time for him to learn this since he seems to have an aggressive behavior.

He still challenges us from time to time. We are being firm with him.

He has no problems with grooming and clipping any area except his feet.

Is he always "cleaning" his feet? Like maybe they hurt him or are irritated? If not then it sounds like it's just going to take more time for him to adjust to having his feet handled.
Has he had his nailed clipped too short? If so, that caused him pain he's probably remembering that. If not, then just keep messing with those feet and be firm with him like you've been doing.

Some dogs just hate to have their paws touched. It could be also that he/she had a bad experience at one time.

One of my dogs has nailed me several times for handling his paws. I leave it to the groomer to cut nails and trim bewteen the paws. If I do it, I muzzle him. He's old so there's not much chance in changing his behavior now.

With my second and third dog, we attended doggie school. I learned from the teachers that you should make it a habit by massaging and touching the paws early on so the dog gets use to it. It helped and I have no problems with them.

Texaswoman,

Thanks for the ideas. No he doesn't clean his feet. No injuries, and at least I have never cut his nails too short.

Todancewithwolves,

He is signed up for puppy classes that start on Feb. 27th. I will continue to touch his paws.

I like to groom him myself but maybe a trip to the groomer would be a good idea.

thanks

Have you tried positive reinforcement? When you touch his feet - give him a treat immediately, stretching out the time you touch him as he hopefully improves.

I hate trimming my dogs' nails. Its worth it to me to pay to have it done!

One of my dogs also doesn't like to have her feet handled. When we first got her it would take two of us to clip her nails, one person to hold her down and the other to clip. However, she has never bit anyone for trying - I might touch base with the breeder on that and see if there were some negative experiences or if they have dealt with this issue before. It seems like quite the reaction for a pup that young to me...

What I've done with Chaos, who loves to have her belly rubbed, is to pet her and rub her belly, and while doing this also touch her feet. Only for a short moment and don't make a big deal of it, just keep repeating it. Ideally you want to do this when you and the dog are both tired and relaxed, for us a good time was in the evening, when we were sitting in front of the TV after a full day.

Once you have done this for a while, get a bowl of treats and take the puppy's foot, give him the treat, and let go of the foot. The idea is to get him to equate foot touching with yummy treats and think "take my paw again, I want a treat!". Then we graduated to doing the paw & treat thing while I'm holding the nail clippers. Eventually, when Chaos was all relaxed about the clippers being there (which originally made her nervous and jumpy) I would clip one nail, and keep doing the hold paw & treat routine as if never happened.

The key for us was not to force the issue. If I insisted on holding her foot until she gave in or until I clipped all of her nails in one session at first, it would only get worse. Trust me, I tried it (cause some people said I have to show her who's the boss). It's like buying a house - you want both the buyer and seller to think that they got a good deal.

Now we don't have to hold Chaos down to clip her nails. I do it myself by asking her to lie on her side at the top of the stairs or on the couch (because it's less bending and easier on my back). First I clip each of her nails, giving her a treat every other nail or so (I just use regular dry dog food for this). Then I go back with a Dremel and grind the edges of her nails smooth. When I'm finished she looks around like "what, are we done already?" and that is exactly the reaction I want her to have.

This has gotten a little long, sorry about that. I just wanted to add one more thing that we used to get Chaos used to foot handling. We taught her to shake a paw, with each paw (depending on which hand I hold out) and to give a high five. This really helped to get her over the initial foot touching aversion (with lots of treats, of course).

My experience has been very much like olga's. We also started by playing with our pup's feet part of belly rubs or just laying around watching tv. Relaxed, happy times of the day he already had good associations with. I'd pick up a paw and stroke it and place it back down. No conflict, no huge praise, just a relaxed motion like any other pat.

He knew 'paw', 'shake' and 'high-five' already, so we progress to get him to tolerate us to hold his paw during the 'shake' longer. We worked up to me holding the nail trimmer, and then 1-2 nails at a time.

Many puppy classes work on techniques to help puppies be relaxed while being handled for ear, feet, teeth checks. Hopefully the one you two will be attending will walk through some different techniques. It is a huge bonus to be able to trim the nails and hair yourself. Also the vet will thank you on your next exam. :)

If only our cat could have learned to be so civil!

Olga and Northy,

Thanks. Maybe I am trying to be the boss or pack leader too much? I have only used treats after I am finished with his nails. Maybe he needs instant gratification.

I have 3 cats that I have no problem trimming their nails. They simply lie on their back and wait for me to finish. I'm very matter of fact about it and they know it doesn't hurt and is part of life. I thought a dog would be easier.

That pup's still pretty young. Be patient, keep up with the handling - and it may behoove you to use positive association. Also, you could try clipping or 'faux clipping' his nails one or two at a time. Doing all of them at once may prove to be too stressful, if he's terribly sensitive about his feet.

A dogs feet is equal to our provate areas, they hate to have them touched. You should be continuing to touch them everyday, little bits at a time and always end on a positive note. Instead of just grabbing your dogs paws and clipping its toe nails, just touch the clippers to his nails and give him a treat, little bit by little bit, dont force things or go too fast. I do know nails need to be trimmed but going gently and slowly is going to get you farther for longer.