Touch (Target Training)

OVERVIEW

“Touch” cues your dog to walk up to your closed fist and touch it with their nose. Why would you want to teach your dog to do this? There are a couple reasons. The first is that it is a great behavior to teach your dog to help engage them around distractions. If your dog gets overly fixated on something it is very helpful to be able to interrupt the behavior. Because “touch” is such an easy thing for your dog to do (if you put your fist near their face, then all they have to do is turn their head) it can be a great way to get their focus back on you. Once your dog is really good at this behavior you can turn it into a little game to really make them focus on you. In this mini chase game, you move your fist from one location, wait for them to make contact, reward, and start again. This can mean you move your fist around in a fun and engaging way, so they focus less on chasing the squirrel and more on chasing your fist. 

“Touch” can also be considered teaching a target. A target is something that a dog touches with a specified part of their body (the most common parts are the nose or paw). A target can be used to teach more complex behaviors. For example, once your dog knows a nose target you can piggyback off that behavior to teach them to shut a door by pushing it with their nose. For the purposes of this course, we will be focusing on the first reason to teach a target.

At no point during teaching this behavior should you bring your fist to make contact with the puppy’s nose. The point is to teach your puppy to move toward your fist. If your fist is moving toward the puppy, there will be no need for the puppy to move.

Phase 1: Teach the Behavior

Ideally you will start with your dog standing. The more set up they are to move, the easier it will be for them to realize that sitting is not a prerequisite for this behavior. 

Make a closed, empty fist (no treat in your hand) and put it near your puppy’s nose. Put your fist out with a little bit of excitement so they will be inclined to investigate it. Once they touch it with their nose, click and treat. Practice this several times over many sessions. 

Make sure when you present your fist to your puppy you don’t move it around. Once you present it, it should stay still. During this part of the teaching phase, your puppy may only need to turn their head to make contact with your fist. If they have to walk to your fist, they may not be motivated to check out your hand (some dogs will and some won’t.) If your dog is losing motivation with your fist further away, try moving it closer until the understanding of the behavior is stronger.

Phase 2: Solidify the hand cue

The hand cue for this behavior is the act of presenting your fist.

As you progress in teaching this behavior see if you can get your dog to start moving their feet to touch your fist. Place your fist in different places relative to your puppy. Put it a bit higher one time and a bit lower the next. Also work on having the puppy move left or right to get to it. Eventually they should be willing to move across the room to make contact.

If your puppy doesn’t seem interested in this activity initially, try pretending to put a treat in your hand. They will likely walk over to try and get the treat. 

Phase 3: Teach the verbal cue

Once your puppy is engaged with this game of bopping your fist with their nose, start to incorporate the verbal cue. Say “touch” and then put your fist out. When the puppy bops your fist, click and treat.

Phase 4: Selective reinforcement

As your puppy gets better at “touch” you can start to ask them to do a few touches before rewarding them. If there are lots of distractions around, then give them a treat more frequently.