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Trick First introduced in Elementary

Touch

Nose-touch a target: the building block for many advanced behaviors.

  • Teaching
  • Reinforcing
  • Proofing
  • Maintenance

Maple's stage at Elementary

Success indicator

Dog reliably nose-touches a target hand or stick on cue.

What it is

Touch is very useful trick for getting your dog's attention or directing them where you want. It boosts confidence and obedience too.

How we teach it

  • Start Positioning: Begin with your dog seated in front of you.
  • Initiate Touch: Extend your hand with the palm facing up.
  • Reward Touch: Mark and reward your dog with a treat or toy when they touch their nose to your palm.
  • Repetition: Repeat the hand presentation and reward process multiple times until your dog consistently touches your palm.
  • Progressive Difficulty: Gradually raise or lower your hand to increase the challenge once your dog reliably touches your palm.

Practice at home

  • Don't punish your dog if they make a mistake. Just calmly redirect them back to the training.
  • Take Photos or Videos: Capturing your progress back at home or outside will help us provide additional feedback.

Go deeper

The touch behavior is a simple but useful trick that can be used to get your dog's attention or direct him to where you want him to go. It is also a great way to build your dog's confidence and obedience.

Read the Touch guide

Maple's record

No record yet

This skill has not been assessed for Maple yet. It will appear here after a trainer records it.

Add structure to your week

See where Touch fits in Maple's personalized training plan.