Who nose?

Overcomplicating things...

I see many, many videos and examples of wonderful dog training techniques. The seems an, increasing amount of ‘new’ ways to train dog. Often with ‘experts’ claiming their ‘unique’ new way of doing thinks. I, regularly, see these ‘techniques’ in action and marvel at how they overcomplicate things and just don’t seem work. Now this may be because the trainer is not good at imparting the knowledge or, it is just not understood by the owner or, it doesn’t work.

An example. I have met a lady a couple of times with a very boisterous Labrador pup ( about eight months old ). Like many Labs, he is extremely excitable on the lead, pulling, jumping up, etc. Now, the owner crossed the road so her dog could interact with mine. No problems with that.

However, the pup was so excited he would not calm and was yanking and jumping, constantly. So, here comes the training method. ‘The nose to hand.’ A method I find, laughable. Here (from the Purina dog expert) is what it is meant to do:

Teaching your dog to touch with his nose, also known as nose targeting, is an essential part of his obedience training. Touch dog training is the foundation for more advanced obedience lessons, such as body positioning and how to heel. But it’s also fun and will help your dog learn new tricks like spinning and nose booping. In addition, it will come in handy when your dog is meeting new people.

And in practice? This lady’s dog was around eight months, so one would assume had undergone quite a lot of training by now. She waved a hand with a treat in it, accompanied by many ‘nose’ commands. The impact on the dog was zero, nothing. The more she did it the worse the dog behaved. ( Now, just, a side note - this dog was not behaving badly, it was, simply being a dog ).

I asked the lady, if I could try. She was happy for me to do so. I called the dog to me, he jumped up, once, I asked him to ‘sit’ with intent in my voice. He sat, immediately, Then and only then, did a small biscuit appear as a reward, together with verbal praise. I repeated this a couple times; only these times I, simply, called him to me, raised a hand and looked at him - he sat each time. He had got this in a couple of minutes, flat. On that, the lady continued her walk with a constant ‘nose, nose, nose!’

For me, a lot of techniques, such as nose touching are not needed and, overcomplicate things. In fact, from a behavioural standpoint, the nose technique is flawed in a couple of ways:

1. Using the command ‘nose’ is a little too close to the command ‘no'
   This is, potentially, going to be confusing for a dog.

2. The use of treats
   Many trainers use treats, incorrectly. Waving a treat in a dog’s face to illicit a behaviour or a response is using it as a bribe. This is, fundamentally wrong. A treat should be hidden and only offered when the dog has completed a task or behaviour and not before.

Many will disagree with my views here. However, I believe tried and tested techniques work. Simply, because something is new, does not make it right.