Hearing Dog Training

Hearing Dog Training Game of the Day: "Body Touch"

Touching the hand as an alert can be transferred easily to the body.

Sometimes our hands are not accessible or visible to the dog.

A dog that can touch anywhere can alert a person in any position.

Smaller dogs that are trained to jump up and touch with their paws also need this training. For instance, if they are used to touching legs, they might be confused when the trainer is lying down.

If the dog is trained to touch a target stick, you can also transfer the touch to the body. Fading out the stick is important, and you can use these methods to start hiding the stick.

Goal:
Dog touches body instead of hand. Dog does not spill your hot coffee so often.

This exercise is mostly for dogs that are larger and will be doing a hand touch or body touch or both.

Smaller dogs can do a hand touch or a jump touch with their front paws.

For dogs that jump up to touch with paws, follow these instructions- but give the dog the treat when the paws are touching your body and the hand is hidden.

You will need:

Longsleeved baggy shirt

Baggy old pants or skirt- you will be ripping holes in them!

Use treats almost every time. Even a dog who is well trained to touch will get confused and quit touching when the hand suddenly disappears too fast. So, go back to giving treats often.

Steps:

1) Treat in hand. Show the dog the hand, and cue Touch. Then pull hand into the sleeve. The dog will follow the hand up the sleeve. When it tries this, push the hand back out and give the treat.

2) Treat in hand. Show the dog the hand, and cue Touch. Pull the hand into the sleeve and wait for the dog to try to get it's nose in to touch the hand. Give treat.

3) Treat in hand. Don't show the dog the hand first. Keep it up the sleeve and cue Touch. Most dogs will follow the smell up the sleeve and touch. If not, wiggle the hand inside the sleeve, so the motion and the smell of the the treat will attract the dog to Touch. Give the treat.

4) No treat in hand. Treat is in other hand held behind your back, or on a shelf. When the dog touches the sleeve, give the treat with the other hand.

5) Now, try the pants. Rip holes in the sides of the pants at about the height of the dogs nose level when touching. Avoid the crotch area!

6) Run your hand holding a treat down to the hole. Stick the hand out, wiggle to get the dogs attention, and cue touch. Give the dog the treat.

7) Run your hand holding a treat down to the hole. Stick the hand out, wiggle to get the dogs attention, and cue touch. Pull the hand back in and when the dog touches, poke the treat out the hole to feed the dog.

8) Run your hand holding a treat down to the hole. Wiggle your hand INSIDE the pants. This attracts the dog, and lets some treat smell flow out the hole. Cue touch and treat the dog.

9) Run your hand holding a treat down to the hole. NO motion. Cue Touch and if the dog makes any effort, poke the treat out the hole and feed the dog.

10) Run your hand holding WITH NO TREAT down to the hole. Cue touch, but give treat from other hand.

11) Hand not in pants. Hands can be held up, reading a book, washing dishes, or anything you can think of. Cue the dog and reward for touching your body when hands are visible, but too far out of reach.

Variations-

Practise this sitting, standing, lying down.

Once you have the body touch even if hands are out of reach , or out of sight, work on building a firmer touch if needed. See the game, Treat Magician.