Hand targeting is when your dog touches the palm of your hand with his nose when you request him to do so. Hand targeting can aid you in teaching your dog to walk nicely by your side (he will learn that he has to stay close enough to touch your hand occasionally when requested), to go where you want him to (you can use your hand to direct him to his bed), and to teach many tricks (including the spin). As a wonderful side effect, hand targeting also teaches your dog to be confident and enthusiastic about hands reaching toward him.
You can also teach your dog to target other things, such as the tip of a stick or another person. Targeting is a valuable skill for dogs who perform commercial or film work (think of the dog running to a spot away from a handler and touching an object such as a doorknob), but it can also be extremely valuable for your star pet dog!
Hand targeting is valuable because:
- It may help your dog learn to approach and interact politely with strangers (they present their hand, and your dog touches it to say hello).
- It is a great way to help prevent and solve behavior problems, such as guarding food or other resources, since it gives you a calm, easy way to redirect your dog away from an object and to your hand.
- It is a good tool for perfecting a reliable recall. When your dog begins to re- turn to you after you call him, presenting your hand gives him a specific spot to head to rather than potentially circling around you and playing a game of catch-me-if-you-can.
- It is a good tool for perfecting a reliable recall. When your dog begins to re- turn to you after you call him, presenting your hand gives him a specific spot to head to rather than potentially circling around you and playing a game of catch-me if you can.
Teaching Your Dog to Target
To teach your dog to hand target, present the palm of your hand no more than 6 inches away from your dog’s nose. Your curious dog is likely to touch your palm. Mark the exact moment you feel his wet nose on your skin with a click or by saying “yes,” and then offer him one tiny treat. If he doesn’t touch your hand promptly, just wait. If he is on a leash that you are stepping on or have tied to a stable object, he isn’t going anywhere and will eventually touch your hand out of curiosity or be- cause there isn’t much else available to him at the moment.
Why Mark?
Since the act of a dog touching his nose to your hand is an extremely brief behavior, you need a way to very accurately tell your dog that what he did at that exact moment is what earns him the food treat. After ten to thirty repetitions of clicking or saying “yes” at the exact moment your dog touches your hand with his nose (and rewarding him with a tiny treat for doing so), your dog will start to understand that touching your hand with his nose is what earns him a reward.
Avoid Pushing Your Hand in Your Dog’s Face
It is best to avoid pushing your hand into your dog’s face. The object of this exercise is to teach your dog to touch your hand, not to teach your dog to tolerate you touching his nose! Also, be careful not to hold the treats from your other hand too close to your dog’s face, at least not in the initial stages of teaching. They may be too distracting.
Teach your dog to touch his nose to the palm of your hand, and you have a great foundation for getting him to come when called and a very good way of redirecting his attention.
Moving Forward with Hand Targeting
Once your dog is touching your hand consistently and enthusiastically when it is presented no more than 6 inches away from his nose, you can start to present your hand a bit farther away or in a slightly different position. Expect your dog to be less reliable in his responses as you change the criteria of what you are asking (your hand is farther away, higher, lower, or on a different side of his head). Just stick with each new way of presenting your hand until your dog touches it reliably.
Repetition and reinforcement for correct responses will strengthen this behavior, and then you can move on and ask your dog to hand target in yet another slightly different way.
Adding the Cue Word “Touch”
When you are confident that your dog understands to touch your hand when you present it (you should be confident enough to bet $100 that the behavior will hap- pen!), say “touch” right before you present your hand. Repeating this process many times in three- to five-minute training sessions will set the groundwork for your dog to understand that the word “touch” means to find your hand and touch it with his nose. Now, if you like, you can teach your dog to touch your hand only when he hears you say “touch.” Present your hand without saying the word. If your dog touches it, don’t reward. He may seem confused for a moment since he has been rewarded before for touching your hand whether or not you say “touch.” Continue rewarding your dog for touching your hand when you say the cue and present your hand, and ignore those touches offered without you saying the cue.