Discouraging the lick while teaching "touch"

[zd262]

Bubba is a huge licker. He would just lick all day if he could. He stops when I tell him to "leave it".

I've started teaching "touch" (nose to my hand), but the majority of the time he's actually going in for a lick, not a sniff or nose bump. I don't want to reward the lick, because then he might think im teaching him to lick my hand.

Thoughts or suggestions?

[Tanya]

only mark/reward when there is no lick

to be honest, this is a huge issue on my end LOL! add to that, when penny is exited the lick turns into nibbling :P she also pokes my hand as she goes to lay down. I just never got around to fixing these things. but ultimately the answer is do not reward the licks. ONLY mark/reward when it's a nose bump gently to hand.

[Annette47]

LOL - I wish I was just trying to discourage a lick ... both Chloe and Sassy think touch means to take my hand inside their mouths!

I allow Chloe to do it because I feel like she’s earned the right, but Sassy hasn’t so I’m doing the “no reward” unless she touches properly.

[POPTOP]

Have met quite a few service dogs in training at the Exchange and Commissary. They are not allowed to lick. All their trainers say that that's one of the hardest thing to teach. Of course, they have been mostly young labs and goldens although there was a poodle who did it too.

[zd262]

Thanks everyone for the advice and for telling me this was totally normal! I'll continue to only praise & treat when there is no lick. The reason I asked is because online it always says as soon as there is a sniff/lick/any interest, because it's at those beginning staged when you're sort of overly praising and then make it more difficult. It sounds like even though it may take a little longer to teach, it is worth it to only praise & treat the correct behavior in this scenario.

[peep_erz]

I don't have this issue with my lab. I have it with my corgi! If he doesn't lick he mouths it. I've tried rewarding only bumps with no mouthing or licking but he is too smart and fast for me and will do a quick lick and then bump. I'm glad to hear others have this issue as well. Maybe i'm not as bad of a trainer as I thought I was. hehe. Sometimes I angle the target or my hand at a diagonal above his nose so the bump has to come first but this "cheat" is only a temporary fix. the next training session he'll be back to licking and mouthing.

[Blackboy98]

I have taught Gabe what you are teaching. He too is a kisser, so when I was teaching 'touch', I would hold his muzzle closed with my hand and bring my nose down to him while he was sitting, touch my nose to his, then treat. After two days of this action, I removed my hand and gave the command and if successful, treat. It takes a lot of patience because you are dealing with an action that dogs use to greet and detect odors and flavors(if they lick) with other dogs.

Then I went on to teach the kiss command to let him know these are two distinct actions.

Be sure not to let Bubba jump up from a sitting position to do the touch, you bend you to get close to his head. Later after his command is solid, go for having him 'sit up and touch'. I give Gabe a sit up, hesitate for about two seconds then the touch. Again, I bend down to his head level.

[Labradorks]

This is where a clicker comes in handy. You can communicate to the dog that what he did was correct quicker than giving a treat or even saying "yes" or whatever you marker is.

So, if the dog is going for your hand and touches before licking, quickly click and take your hand away while feeding, not allowing the dog time to lick.

You can also try to put your hand parallel to the ground, above the nose. Might be more difficult to get a lick in. If this works then you can do it for a bit then start changing the angle of your hand once he knows what you're after.

[zd262]

Thank you all! Touch is going awesome for us now (just four days later). Labradorks, holding my hand parallel to the ground really made a difference! That tongue of his didn't stand a chance. Now I'm trying to get him to do jumping touch, but he just gets upset and lays down and gives me puppy eyes haha.