Hi Everyone, Just starting out with a small puppy, she's very bitey so we have been starting to practise "leaving" a hand with a treat in it, which Truffle has caught on to very quickly and does nicely. Next I plan to teach her to leave my hand alone as I move it in front of her, progressing to touching her, with no biting. However, reading up on beginning clicker training, one of the first things that comes up to teach her would be to target touch my hand. This seems as if it would be confusing- in one scenario she's to ignore my hand completely, in the other to bump it with her nose. How would she know which is which? I am guessing that once she has the "Leave" command paired with her leave action, that would help, and also is the hand position clear and different enough for the pup to know that's what you meant? Thanks in advance for any advice
I don't use a cue for "leave" with something in my hand. The default should be leaving it alone, unless told to "take it". So, if I were you, I'd practice "no mugging" first, which is explained really well in this Kikopup video. The signal for a hand touch is an open palm (or some people use the back of the hand) facing towards the dog. It should be a very distinct cue. You shouldn't need to have any food in it, which, you're right, could be confusing for the pup. But you start off by clicking any movement towards the hand (or looking at it, even), building up to the touch. When you get to the point where you add a cue, you start offering the hand without a cue, too, but only reinforcing the ones where you've given the cue. This way, your pup learns that it's only when asked that he gets rewarded for touching your hand.
She has loads of videos to teach the cued "leave it", too (which is also very valuable), so just do a search on her channel to find them.
Thanks snowbunny, I will have a look at those as well. I think I've boggled my brain with training info overload!
