Touch Command

Today was a busy day in training dog manners. I'm glad people are taking responsibility and learning how to become better owners.

One command we teach is the "touch" command. I never really understood this one at first. I never see it in books really. We start off by allowing our dog to touch the palm of our hand by placing our hand in front of the dog's face, leaving about a 2-3 inch gap. A treat is actually held in the palm by using the thumb. No command is given at first. Your dog should naturally be interested and touch your thumb or palm. Treat instantly and praise.

So why do we teach this? It's actually the beginning stages to many focus exercises, it's the start of teaching your dog to go away from you, and it's really a good way to teach your dog that hand touch is a good thing! It's also the first stages of how therapy dogs learn to close doors, turn on lights and even push the numbers on a phone. It's really amazing what dogs can do if we train them right.