# Problems with 'Touch' and licking!



## Chells_Aura

So I got that brain games for dogs for me and Chell and one of the first things I found that I thought would be reeeaally useful was 'touch'.

So I've been working on touch because I know it would come in handy for many different things but we just can't get it. Chell seems to think that she's supposed to lick my extended fingers when I waggle them (a la kikopup video) or show them to her to touch. 

So I've tried just waiting until she stops licking and is just touching my fingers but she doesn't seem to get it and it's more frustrating to her. and I can't really click just before she touches/licks my fingers because she comes at my fingers tongue out ready to lick. (she's got serious licking needs)

Would it work if I brought my fingers to her? Clicked when I touch her nose with my fingers instead of when she touches? Or would that just make her think that 'touch' is for me touching her nose and not her touching my fingers with her nose?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions to help with licking?
I didn't mind it before but she's constantly licking my 3mo baby's face and hands and I don't think that's very good for him even if he doesn't seem to mind it!

Thanks so much I greatly appreciate it!


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## Carrie-e

I think you are very sensible to not encourage her to lick your baby,as much as we love our dogs their tongues must be quite germy! Some dogs are very licky,Tia my mini is a big licker,Billy the spoo not. When Tia is licking too much I give her a bone or something to chew to click her out of the licking mode!


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## patk

maybe start by teaching "no kissing" (otherwise known as licking)? when my dog was a pup and tried to lick, i would move away and say "no kissing." sounds very cold-hearted, but i really did not want him putting his tongue on people - especially kids. poor guy was also taught not to jump on people. i must have ruined his puppyhood, but i have never had to worry about him offending a parent or scaring a child by his behavior.


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## Chagall's mom

Just going to toss around some ideas here....

I always like to deal with "why" an dog might be doing something before trying to address it. (_If_ I can figure it out!) Is Chell licking because she's anxious, bored, too excited, loves the smell of your hand soap, has repeatedly gotten a response/attention from you in the past, stuff like that. If she needs more exercise, or to be shown a different behavior to perform (like "sit" rather than lick!), or to be briefly ignored (you just walk away whenever she licks), those might be things to try.

I don't know if this would work, or is even advisable, but maybe you could try to teach "touch" using a little "plate" (something like the plastic disc used to seal an opened aluminum can perhaps?) instead of your tasty fingers. All guesses here on my part, as you can tell!!  

I would also work on putting the licking on cue, teaching Chell to "kiss" _only_ when and where you want. (A dab of peanut butter on the spot would likely convince her!) Maybe allow/teach her to only kiss the baby's foot on cue? (IF that's agreeable to you.) _Everyone_, friends and family and strangers, has to follow your lead here and not allow Chell to lick them, other than on cue. I wish I could help, but I don't know quite how. Hopefully others will soon be by to. Just wanted to share some thoughts.

BTW, I remember watching the kikopup "touch training" video, and I _think_ she manages to click prior to the lick (she's so skilled!), and also suggests _not _bringing your hand _to_ the dog. Double-check me on that, I haven't watched it in ages. I'm posting it for ready reference. Good luck with things!:clover:

How to Stop Dogs Licking You: 10 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow (I don't usually cite wikihow, but this seemed like a fairly decent little summary.)

https://www.petco.com/Content/Articl...ng-People.aspx

Dog Obedience Training through Targeting - Whole Dog Journal Article


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## J.Bosley

Hello!
Have you tried using a target plate for touch? So she learns to touch the target plate with her nose and not lick you? I ALWAYS teach touch to a target plate first (clear pringles lid) and then use my hand and other objects, like a piece of paper, and then whatever else you want!

I find this works better, and is clearer to the dog then getting them to target touch your hand. Good luck! :act-up:


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## FireStorm

It is funny that you posted this...I am just teaching Hans "touch" using kikopup's video, in hopes of eventually teaching him to turn light switches on. He started out trying to lick my fingers (probably because they smelled like treats - I hold the clicker and extra treats in my left hand and use my right for the signal and to give treats). But he gave up the licking on his own, and replaced it with a good, solid nudge. He doesn't go overboard with licking in general, though.

I didn't do anything to get him to switch from licking to nudging, at least not that I know of. It seems like he figured it out when I started distracting him with the extra treats in my left hand and making him move away from that to touch my right hand. I think that is when he really got the idea of "touch" and wasn't just checking my right hand to see if I was offering a treat (but, I could be really over analyzing it - this is my first try with clicker training).

The idea of using a target other than your hand sounds like a good one, though. Especially if the licking is already an issue anyway.


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## Chells_Aura

Apologies to everyone for not replying sooner! I'm able to read the responses with the baby but can't always respond right away! So thankyou all for your responses!



Carrie-e said:


> I think you are very sensible to not encourage her to lick your baby,as much as we love our dogs their tongues must be quite germy! Some dogs are very licky,Tia my mini is a big licker,Billy the spoo not. When Tia is licking too much I give her a bone or something to chew to click her out of the licking mode!


I don't know if Chell has a licking mode to get out of! I think licking mode is her default. 





patk said:


> maybe start by teaching "no kissing" (otherwise known as licking)? when my dog was a pup and tried to lick, i would move away and say "no kissing." sounds very cold-hearted, but i really did not want him putting his tongue on people - especially kids. poor guy was also taught not to jump on people. i must have ruined his puppyhood, but i have never had to worry about him offending a parent or scaring a child by his behavior.


We've been working on teaching her "no licking" ... it's hardest for me because Ive always viewed the licking as a sign of affection so I let her lick me. So I think I need to start stopping that.
She's never been allowed to jump on people without cue... and we only added the cue to help cement that she's not allowed to jump without it because my parents would let her jump up on them... so we told them to preemptively ask her to "gimmie a hug" before she jumped up. That worked and now I can take her to petsmart without her trying to jump up on everyone! 
I find most people, especially kids, think the licking is cute - "ohhh she's kissing me Mommy" is what I usually hear. People who don't like dogs don't tend to ask to pet your dog. 
But I guess I'll have to work on curbing her licking now.


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## Chells_Aura

Thanks Chagall's Mom!
She definitely is anxious, we're also having problems with warning barks at anything and everything outside and everything inside that is new or in the wrong place. It's all a work in progress 
And also because she gets attention (for licking) cuz I've always viewed it as affectionate :S

Teaching touch on a plate might be better... anytime I hold my hand out to her she licks it. If I scratch behind her ears, which she looves, she settles in and licks the inside of my elbow 

I'm the only one in the family who lets her lick them... everyone else tells her no! Maybe adding a cue will work, teaching her when and where she can lick. (baby's feet or back of his head!) Teaching her the cue 'gimmie a hug' seemed to work wonders for her jumping up, so maybe she just needs to know that she's allowed to do these things once in a while on cue before she's willing to give the habit up!

I don't remember in the kikopup video her saying anything about not bringing your hand to the dog but I can see that being true.  But that's why I was asking here. I was wondering if maybe I clicked for my fingers being on her nose and taught her that was touch if then I could teach her to come to my fingers when I say touch as the 2nd part of that once she learns that my fingers on her nose sans licking is what 'touch' is. It would take a heck of a lot longer but I wonder if it would be possible?

Maybe I'll work on getting lick/no licking on cue while I wait to see if anyone else has some advice.  Maybe getting lick on cue will mean I don't need to teach 'touch' on cue!

Thanks for your post 

Oh and editing some spelling I remembered something: When we were teaching her 'Gentle' ie to not bite. She would the lick instead when we'd say that and because she wasn't biting we told her 'Good girl! Good gentle' so maybe we trained her to be default mode licking! oops!




Chagall's mom said:


> Just going to toss around some ideas here....
> 
> I always like to deal with "why" an dog might be doing something before trying to address it. (_If_ I can figure it out!) Is Chell licking because she's anxious, bored, too excited, loves the smell of your hand soap, has repeatedly gotten a response/attention from you in the past, stuff like that. If she needs more exercise, or to be shown a different behavior to perform (like "sit" rather than lick!), or to be briefly ignored (you just walk away whenever she licks), those might be things to try.
> 
> I don't know if this would work, or is even advisable, but maybe you could try to teach "touch" using a little "plate" (something like the plastic disc used to seal an opened aluminum can perhaps?) instead of your tasty fingers. All guesses here on my part, as you can tell!!
> 
> I would also work on putting the licking on cue, teaching Chell to "kiss" _only_ when and where you want. (A dab of peanut butter on the spot would likely convince her!) Maybe allow/teach her to only kiss the baby's foot on cue? (IF that's agreeable to you.) _Everyone_, friends and family and strangers, has to follow your lead here and not allow Chell to lick them, other than on cue. I wish I could help, but I don't know quite how. Hopefully others will soon be by to. Just wanted to share some thoughts.
> 
> BTW, I remember watching the kikopup "touch training" video, and I _think_ she manages to click prior to the lick (she's so skilled!), and also suggests _not _bringing your hand _to_ the dog. Double-check me on that, I haven't watched it in ages. I'm posting it for ready reference. Good luck with things!:clover:


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## Chells_Aura

J.Bosley said:


> Hello!
> Have you tried using a target plate for touch? So she learns to touch the target plate with her nose and not lick you? I ALWAYS teach touch to a target plate first (clear pringles lid) and then use my hand and other objects, like a piece of paper, and then whatever else you want!
> 
> I find this works better, and is clearer to the dog then getting them to target touch your hand. Good luck! :act-up:


Pringles lid! My husband will like that one... it means he'll have to eat some pringles! 

And actually I can see how that might work better. Thanks for the idea!



FireStorm said:


> It is funny that you posted this...I am just teaching Hans "touch" using kikopup's video, in hopes of eventually teaching him to turn light switches on. He started out trying to lick my fingers (probably because they smelled like treats - I hold the clicker and extra treats in my left hand and use my right for the signal and to give treats). But he gave up the licking on his own, and replaced it with a good, solid nudge. He doesn't go overboard with licking in general, though.
> 
> I didn't do anything to get him to switch from licking to nudging, at least not that I know of. It seems like he figured it out when I started distracting him with the extra treats in my left hand and making him move away from that to touch my right hand. I think that is when he really got the idea of "touch" and wasn't just checking my right hand to see if I was offering a treat (but, I could be really over analyzing it - this is my first try with clicker training).
> 
> The idea of using a target other than your hand sounds like a good one, though. Especially if the licking is already an issue anyway.


Yeah her licking is definitely an issue 
I remembered something else that probably encouraged her licking! Geeze! So many things! We got her a doorbell (Pebble Smart Doggie Doorbell - Wireless Dog Doorbell and Pet Chime) because she would just sit around in the cold snow with tail between her legs and not let anyone know she wanted to come in. So I'd have to go check on her every 5 minutes to see if she was ready to come in or not and with a new baby that was hard. So we got her the doorbell and now she lets us know when she wants in and out! The doorbell has a slot for a treat behind it and a hole in the push plate for the dogs to smell the treat and be enticed to push it. Well Chell would often lick the doorbell to set it off! Once we stopped using the treat behind the plate she now just pushes it with her nose!


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