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How to train a nose to hand touch

What are we training?

Our dog to touch their nose to the palm of our hand when we present it and use the cue “touch”.

Why should we train this?

Nose to hand touch is a building block for lots of other behaviours. We can use it to guide our dog onto a scale or other scary surface and what is recall other than a nose to hand touch from a distance!

You will need:

  • Treats
  • Your hand (duh)
  • A marker (“YES”, clicker or other)

How to train this?

  1. Hold your DOMINANT hand flat with fingers together. Tuck a treat between your thumb and the inside of your palm.
  2. Have your treat pouch/pocket close to your NON-DOMINANT hand. Be ready to use this hand to give a treat to your dog*.
  3. Place your DOMINANT hand with the treat, palm facing towards your dog. Place it at a distance close enough that your dog doesn’t need to get up to touch your hand, but not so close that they cannot see it.
  4. As they go to sniff your hand holding the treat, MARK this behaviour and give them a treat with your NON-DOMINANT hand (i.e. the one not holding the treat!)
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 a few times until your dog understand you are marking the movement towards your hand.
  6. Now repeat again and wait until your feel their nose touch your DOMINANT hand, even if it is only for a fraction of a second.
  7. Once your dog is consistently contacting your DOMINANT hand, you can move on to adding the CUE.
  8. As you feel your dog’s nose make contact, say “TOUCH!” in a bright, happy voice. MARK and reward. Repeat a few times.
  9. Now present your DOMINANT hand and say “TOUCH” at the same time**. MARK, reward and repeat.
  10. Remove the treat from your DOMINANT hand (it’ll smell like food by now!).
  11. Offer your DOMINANT hand (still held flat, palm towards your dog but now with your thumb to the side) and say “TOUCH” at the same time.

*ALWAYS give the treat from the hand which is not being present for the touch.

**We’re transitioning from just a hand cue to a hand and vocal cue, so our dog can begin to understand he need may need to search for your hand if he can’t see it.

This is too hard! (How to make it easier)

  • Use a smellier treat
  • Hold your flat hand closer to the nose (not touching but almost)

This is too easy! (How to make it more challenging)

  • Increase the distance of your hand from your dog’s nose – can they still touch it if they need to move forward?
  • Hold your hand higher – will they reach up and touch it?
  • Increase the from where you stand in relation to your dog – can you work up to asking for a touch from the other side of the room?
  • Increase the distractions – can your dog still touch if there is something interesting on the floor near them? What about when there’s other sounds or smells?
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