Nose touch training
Teach your dog to bump your palm with their nose: a quick brain game that is the first step to many tricks.
What you need
- Small treats
- Your pet's regular food or kibble — optional
How to do it
- Hold your flat hand, palm out, an inch or two from your dog's nose.
- The moment their nose touches your palm, say "yes" (or click) and give a treat right in front of your palm.
- Repeat until your dog bumps your palm eagerly. If they hesitate, rub your palm with a smelly treat for the first few tries.
- Once it is reliable from a few inches away, say "touch" just before you offer your hand.
- Then slowly move your hand further away, higher, lower and to the sides.
⚠️ Safety
Supervision: Stay with your pet the whole time.
Keep sessions short and fun, and count treats in the day's food (pieces of the regular meal work for many dogs).
👀 What to watch for
If your dog won't touch your palm at all, reward any movement towards it, even a look, and build up from there.
Try next
Calm massage
Slow, gentle strokes from head to tail: a quiet way to bond with your dog at the end of the day.
Delivery box search
A few empty delivery boxes spread around a room, some with treats inside. Your dog searches them all by scent.
Digging pit with buried toys
A kiddie pool or sandbox of clean sand where digging is allowed, with toys buried for your dog to find.
Find the toy
Hide your dog's favorite toy and send them to sniff it out: a scent game that needs no food at all.
Flirt pole chase
A lure on a rope at the end of a pole that your dog chases along the ground: lots of exercise in a few minutes.
Frozen stuffed toy
A rubber toy stuffed with part of your dog's meal and frozen. It takes much longer to empty and keeps your dog busy and calm.