Teaching Your Dog “Touch” (Also called “Target Training”)
Steps to Get Started:
Hold two fingers out near your puppy’s nose without touching your pet. Don't try cuing (or giving a command) yet, that comes later, once the behaviour is well established.
When puppy sniffs your fingers, click at the moment of contact, and give your puppy a treat.
Move your two fingers behind your back as soon as the behaviour is complete.
Pop your two fingers back out near puppy’s nose, when puppy makes contact with your fingers, click and treat.
If puppy doesn’t touch your fingers, start them from very close to puppy’s nose and slowly move them away to encourage puppy to follow and investigate. Again, if puppy’s nose makes contact with your outstretched fingers, click and treat.
If moving your fingers doesn’t work, try putting them behind your back again, then popping them back out. The novelty can encourage puppy to check them out.
If two fingers aren’t working, you can try using your whole hand or a more obvious object like a brightly coloured tupperware lid, and use the same steps above.
Donna Hill has a good YouTube video tutorial.
Why use “Touch”?
Touch can be fantastic for shy dogs as it encourages them to move forward and initiate contact, rather than being pursued, which can make them more nervous.
Touch is great for positioning an animal where you need them (i.e. onto a scale at the vet’s office for a weight), or as a foundation for teaching new behaviours or fun tricks.
Touch is good for moving dogs without having to grab their collar and physically move them. This is important for fearful dogs and for dogs who have handling issues and allows the dog to be in control of his movements and helps him gain confidence.
Adding the Cue
Once your puppy is catching on to the game (touching the fingers or object 9 out of 10 times), add in a word, like “touch” to give the behaviour a name for your dog.
It’s important to wait until the dog understands the behaviour before adding a cue, otherwise the dog will hear the word as noise with no meaning and will learn to ignore it.
Make it easy for your dog. In a happy voice, say “touch!”, pop your hand or the object out from behind your back, and move it just slightly away from your puppy. When he makes contact, click and treat, and repeat.
Generalize
Once puppy has learned the “touch” game with cue, start doing it from a sitting or standing position (both yourself and the dog!), having the object or your fingers coming from different angles and at different heights. Then practice in different environments and locations (even different rooms in the house, outside vs. inside, etc).
Dogs don’t generalize learning well, so they need to practice under a variety of contexts and situations in order to become “fluent” in a behaviour, meaning they can do it anywhere when asked.
K.I.S.S.
Keep It Short & Simple. Training should be fun, so do various mini-sessions rather than occasional long sessions. Keep it fun and light, set your dog up for success, and leave your dog wanting more. Set aside just one minute before meal times to play “touch” when your dog is hungry and find other opportunities to sneak in little training moments throughout your days.
About The Author
Jillian is a fear-free certified and CPDT-KA certified animal behaviour specialist and has been working in the animal care and behaviour field since 2009.
