Hand-Nose Targeting - Skill

Hand-Nose Targeting means teaching your dog to touch your hand with your nose.

This skill is the foundation to recall, leashing up, and many obedience or agility tasks. It is one of the first skills I teach puppies.

Let's learn how to teach this valuable skill in detail, trouble shooting common issues, and what to do to take it to the next level.

First practice the physical cue a couple of times to get comfortable with a consistent position.

1. Hand should be extended out to your side

2. palm open (choose if you want to have your palm facing the dog or turned with the back of your hand facing the dog). Some people like use their fist, or two fingers, and that's okay too.

3. Keep in mind that dogs do not have the best eyesight though many rely almost completely on their eye sight. Consider the shape and cellulite of your entire body and what the dog might see in poor or back lit lighting. You want this image to look consistent.

4. Your hand should be at about the hight of your dogs head.

Now that we know what position we are going to take and what the dramatic physical prompt will be for the dog we can start teaching the dog what the heck they are supposed to do.

Start in low distraction and very close to your dog you can have your dog already paying attention to you when you prepared the treats. Let's train.

Example Video:

Note I didn't throw the treat (step 5 below). I still recommend that you start with tosses.

1. Start by putting your hand out just like you practiced without your dog. Your hand about 2" from your dogs noise.

2. Mark (click or say "yes") the moment that your dog touches your hand with their nose.

3. Then remove the hand your dog just touched

4. Now using the targeted hand reach in your treat bag to get a treat

5. Toss the treat about 4-5 feet away from you and behind your dog.

6. Repeat this pattern many times until your dog is swiftly running out for their treat and immediately returning to touch your hand.

If your dog is doing good with this stationary pattern, now let's change it up a little switch hands if you haven't already. You can try offering your hand at different heights. The key here is just don't offer your hand too high that they will be enticed to jump off the ground. (If you really want to teach them to jump for the target you can later on in the process but I would wait until the dog has reliable control and only touches your hand when you ask them to (stimulus control).

Once your dog is doing well with this pattern in low distraction try adding a little extra distraction.

Below are some ideas. You will need to know your dog and decide what is an appropriate level of distraction for them.

• Set a bowl of treats on a low table or chair a little bit away from you but still with in grabbing distance.

• Place a treat, or plate of food on the ground behind you. Asking your dog to preform this task while the food tempts them.

• Place a ball or favorite toy on the ground.

• Try sitting down in a chair

• Drop a toy behind you and have the dog move to your hand instead of chasing the toy.

• Toss a toy so that it bounces or moves a decent amount behind you.

• Toss a toy to the side so the dog has to chose target or chase.

• Toss the toy over the dogs head.

• Have a known person walk by carrying something smelly or a fun toy

• Have a person run by (kids are great helpers for this one)

• Have a helper person toss or dribble a ball nearby

• Toss food on the ground behind you

• Toss food to the side

• Toss food behind the dog (this means you won't be able to block the dog if they choose the food)

• Try it in the door way before going for a walk

• Step outside in a known area and practice

• have a bike ride by a few times while you practice (kids are good helpers here too)

• Practice when you get to a new location

• Practice while on a walk

Of course this list could go on forever but the key here is practice. It looks the same everywhere human offers their hand in this unique pose and dog comes running.

Where or when can you start using a verbal cue?

You can start saying a word in combination with the physical position after you see that the dog can reliably target your hand when it's high or low.

Recall

Alright everyone wants a solid recall! This targeting skill is the foundation. If you have tried this skill around many distractions and in lots of new locations and your dog is super reliable at immediately making contact with your hand it's time to add distance.

Why wait until the skill is perfect in distractions and generalized in lots of locations before adding distance?

All this time you were doing something called proofing. When a behavior is proofed it becomes reliable. What do people often say they want their recalls to be? RELIABLE! So we teach the dogs that you are a reliable and build up a very strong history of reinforcement for preforming the behavior. So strong they can't think of doing anything else other than touching your hand.

Start your distance training in low distractions when you first begin. The progression of distance will look something like the following:

1. Take a few steps away from your dog (while they follow you) and ask them to touch

2. Have some one hold them or use a pole to loop your leash through to hold them away from you. Back up. Then ask for the target simultaneously releasing them so they can reach you.

3. While taking a walk (you might already be doing this) ask them to target at random when they are further away from you.

4. Try when they are slightly distracted and only about 8 feet away from.

5. Then 10

6. then 15

7. then 25

8. then 35

9. At this point you will want to have some verbal cue in place so they can hear you call if they can't see you or are not looking.

It will happen fast if you did all the prior distraction training.

Heeling

You can easily teach your dog to heel by using your hand at your side. This requires the dog to learn how to hold their nose in the targeting position, duration.

To build duration you are going to stretch out the time they stay in contact with your hand. At first you will be counting in milliseconds but once you get to the first few seconds your dog will be able to hold until you mark.

So that's all your doing withholding the marker a split second after they make contact instead of right away.

Troubleshooting

• If your dog is anticipating the treat to be tossed and they are running off as soon as you sound the marker. Consider practicing some trials where you feed the dog instead of tossing the treat.

• If your dog is not motivated to play the game or wont touch your hand in the first round try putting the target hand in the treat bag then offering the empty hand to them again.

Can you think of some other useful things you can use your target as the foundation to teaching your dog more complex skills?

I think about teaching the dog to step onto the scale at the vet clinic. Or what about loading up in the car. Going over a jump? Moving them away from the door so you can let your friends in the house.