How to teach Shame/Cover your face for your dog?

[Eleonora]

My friend has a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and she is interested to know about how to teach this trick: Shame/Cover your face. Also other users can ask advice of it so this thread is not just for my friend.

My friend has been trying to find tutorials about it. She was not actually teaching Lotta but she just tried what she has seen in them. In one tutorial they suggested to tickle the dog's snout. Lotta didn't like it.
In some of the tutorials they suggested to put tape or sticker on dog's snout. My friend tried to put tape on Lotta's snout and Lotta didn't like that either. Lotta tried to take the tape off with her paw but my friend didn't think Lotta would learn anything that way.

Does some of you know ways to teach it without touching the dog or putting something on her snout? In clicker training a dog is usually teached to do things by herself. That way is more suitable for Lotta. However, my friend found only tutorials where they used abovementioned methods. So, does someone know how to teach the dog to do that trick by herself?

 

[labgirl]

I was taught to do the method your friend was shown with a post-it, basically clicking every time they touched their nose and then building on it.

To teach it as 'pure clicker' you would have to wait until the dog put its paw near its nose and build on that. For instance, both Cadbury and Merlin will occasionally rub at their nose/eyes when tired or just waking up. You would have to be on the ball to 'capture' that behaviour however.

You could use a target stick, teach the dog to paw the stick and then gradually move the stick towards the dog's nose until she had to reach near her nose to touch it and then hope for her to touch her nose rather than the stick.

I still think it is going to be quite challenging to teach without 'something' on the nose to induce the behaviour.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

This is one of the tricks I personally won't attempt to ' free shape' which is what it's called, when you don't lure at all. I just don't have couple of years worth of patience, hahaha

I completely understand, appreciate and applaud free shaping over anything else... but find myself luring way more often. Also a dog has to be really conditioned for free shaping and that takes some time and skill I haven't yet perfected!! It's amazing and useful. My freestyle instructor has a dog that offers behaviours like there is no tomorrow, without any frustration, he's fabulous!! even he has learned that trick with the sticky on the face, lol and she is a clicker trainer graduate from Karen Pryor school, lol

The little post it note or stickky is the one other friends have used to great success (and I will use once I start with it sometime soon), you really DO have to be on the ball tho and fast and accurately capture (click) lol, either way whether you lure of truly free shape.

 

[Eleonora]

My friend has only started to look for ways to teach this trick. She has just tried ways what she has seen or what is told only in order to see how Lotta reacts.

I was taught to do the method your friend was shown with a post-it

That method wouldn't work because of this:

My friend tried to put tape on Lotta's snout and Lotta didn't like that. Lotta tried to take the tape off with her paw but my friend didn't think Lotta would learn anything that way.

And Lotta is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Lotta has a small snout and there isn't much room to put something on it. Besides, it might look silly.

You could use a target stick, teach the dog to paw the stick and then gradually move the stick towards the dog's nose until she had to reach near her nose to touch it and then hope for her to touch her nose rather than the stick.

My friend sometimes tried to teach targeting behaviors for Lotta. But not lately. The way you suggested may not work because of this: my friend tried to put a marker behind Lotta's paw. Lotta lifted her paw and refused to touch it with her paw. However, Lotta did sniff it. Besides my friend knows that the dog is usually teached to touch a target stick with her/his snout and a target mat with her/his paw.

When we are talking generally about dog training, the methods in where the dog is physically led into positions is not suitable for Lotta. However:

In clicker training a dog is usually teached to do things by herself. That way is more suitable for Lotta.

When we are talking about how the behaviors are teached for the dog in clicker training one option is shaping. That way is suitable for Lotta because of this: Lotta acts silly when my friend tries to train her. When the dog is acting silly, it helps when the wanted behavior is divided in small parts and she's always rewarded after taking just a little step for the right direction. So, does someone know how to shape the trick? What are the steps?

My friend is not sure if some of the abovementioned ways would work with Lotta. Does someone have other ideas?

 

[Eleonora]

In the message we wrote 02-20-2014 we told about this:

My friend has only started to look for ways to teach this trick. She has just tried ways what she has seen or what is told only in order to see how Lotta reacts.

Lotta is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Lotta has a small snout and there isn't much room to put something on it. Besides, it might look silly.

My friend sometimes tried to teach targeting behaviors for Lotta. But not lately. The way you suggested may not work because of this: my friend tried to put a marker behind Lotta's paw. Lotta lifted her paw and refused to touch it with her paw. However, Lotta did sniff it. Besides my friend knows that the dog is usually teached to touch a target stick with her/his snout and a target mat with her/his paw.

When we are talking about how the behaviors are teached for the dog in clicker training one option is shaping. That way is suitable for Lotta because of this: Lotta acts silly when my friend tries to train her. When the dog is acting silly, it helps when the wanted behavior is divided in small parts and she's always rewarded after taking just a little step for the right direction. So, does someone know how to shape the trick? What are the steps?

My friend is not sure if some of the abovementioned ways would work with Lotta. Does someone have other ideas?

Could someone suggest something? She is still interested in teaching it to Lotta.

 

[Chinchi]

I taught this to Darla in a few days, but we call it 'hide' where she puts a paw over her eyes.

I used a piece of sticky tape and stuck it on her nose just below her eyes. She automatically put a paw up to knock the tape off her nose and when she did I would say the cue word, being 'hide' in this case. I would then take off the tape, if she hadn't got it off herself, and give her a treat. Just repeat that a few times a day and they pick it up so fast! Then you will want to begin to phase out the tape but carry on treating till it's 100%. When the command becomes really ingrained you can phase out treating every time, although a little reinforcement from time to time does keep it nice and fresh in the doggie brain.

 

[JacqueZ]

Haha, Honey might be a bit to good of a dog. I just tried teaching this and after six or seven times of me putting the postit note on her nose, she apparently decided that I wanted it there and wouldn't knock it off. She just sat staring at me, "See I'm such a good dog I will put up with this because for some reason it makes you happy. Can I have my yummy now please?"

Oh well, I suppose even if she doesn't pick up this trick it might actually end up with her letting me balance treats on her nose.