Wipe PawsDog scrapes front paws on a mat
A practical trick for rainy days. The dog scrapes their front paws on a textured mat, mimicking a wiping motion. Built by capturing the natural digging-scraping behaviour many dogs do, or shaped from the crawl's forward paw motion.
Also known as: Clean Feet, Scrub
At a glance
- Tier
- 3 · Advanced
- Time to fluency
- 3–7 weeks
- Practice
- 3× per week, 5 min each
- Equipment
- A textured doormat (non-slip), A towel, Small soft treats
Prerequisites
Your dog should know these words first:
How to teach wipe paws
Lure
Place treats under a towel on the floor so the dog paws at it
- Lay a towel flat, place treats underneath it
- The dog will paw and scrape at the towel to get the treats. Mark the scraping motion
- Switch to a doormat once the scraping is consistent
- Reward the scraping action, not the treat-finding
Hand Signal
Point at the mat with a scratching finger motion
- Point at the mat and make a scratching gesture
- Once the dog scrapes on cue, shape longer scraping bouts
- Practise at the door so the context is 'wipe before coming in'
Verbal Cue
The word triggers the wipe at the door
- Say the word at the doormat, wait for the scrape, then let them in
- Coming inside becomes the reward for wiping
- Build duration: 2 scrapes, then 4, then a solid wipe
Success criteria
- Unlearned
- Does not paw at a mat or towel on cue
- In progress
- Wipes paws on the doormat on the word before coming in
- Mastered
- Wipes all four paws (with repositioning) on cue at any door
Common mistakes
- Expecting all four paws at once. Shape front paws first, rear later
- Using a mat that slides, which frustrates the dog
- Not making the context clear. Wipe happens at the door, not randomly
- Skipping the towel/treat shaping step and expecting the dog to understand 'wipe'