 Hello guys, Tom Davis here, America's canine educator. Thank you so much for joining me here on my channel. As you can see, I just taught Hawk how to touch on many different things. Setting your dog away to the touch command or the bed command or the place command is such a big nucleus in my training program. And I believe it helps so much with so many different variables in the dog training process. This command is multifaceted in teaching other behaviors and bridging behaviors, place, sit, stay, break, recall, et cetera. It's really, really great to have, especially if you have friends and family over and you want to send your dog away to a location and they can enjoy themselves by themselves if your dog is reactive to the door, sending them away instead of telling them, hey, stop barking, because the dog barking at a door is very natural. Being able to give them some sort of counter conditioning and obedience is huge. So this is one of those things that I just love. It's probably my second favorite command to teach a behavior. So that's what I'm teaching you guys today. I hope it's valuable, I hope you enjoy it. Here we go. All right, so we're just gonna get started here. It's very simple. So the dog already knows the touch command. So if your dog already knows place, that's the first place to start is just teach him how to go to this bed on command. It doesn't really matter what you use. As far as a command goes, you can use whatever, spaghetti, gumball, bed, place, whatever. But in this case, he knows touch because we worked on touch pad when he was younger with this healing foundation. So I just wanna show you what that looks like really quick. Break, good. Haku touch. Yes, good touch. But he doesn't know how to do it from a distance. And when we're doing the touch command or the bed command from a distance, that's really what we're after when we're teaching the dog the behavior in the first place because you're able to just send your dog away at any given time, at any given place. So it's really nice to use when you're having company over or if you just want the dog out of your face and into the bed if you're eating dinner or anything of any nature of those things. Well, he's gonna have a hard time painting the picture of going to the place command from, let's say, over here. But let's see where he's at. Haku touch, good. So you see how he's like, what's touch from here? And that's not because he doesn't know it that well. He's just never seen the picture from that distance, which is very normal for dogs. But unfortunately for dog owners, it becomes very frustrating because you would think that if a dog knows touch, Haku touch here, yes, good, break. Then they should know touch from here. Haku, go touch, but they don't. It's just a little confusing because they just haven't seen that picture from this distance. So I'm just gonna really simply help you paint that picture for your dog so you guys can practice this at home. So all I'm gonna do is just what I call connected dots. So if he can do it from here but not here, I gotta connect these dots in between. So I'm simply just gonna go from an area, show you where he knows it. Haku touch, when he gets there, you pay him. Yes, good touch, good. Now I don't really care if he sits or downs or whatever. I just want him on this place command or on this touch command. Okay, break, good. Now I'm gonna go from a further distance. I'm gonna see if we can connect that dot. Haku, go to your touch. Yes, good touch, yes, good touch. So lots of positive reinforcement. He's getting paid with food because it is his motivative. So if you guys can use food with your dog, that would be the most beneficial reward during this process because it doesn't get too distracting with a tug or a ball. Break, good. Haku, go to your touch. So there, he's having a little trouble with this distance. So make it a little easier, touch. Yes, good touch. Now what's gonna help shape this behavior the most is my reward-based systems. Now I'm using a lot of verbal reward-based systems as well as food. So when I get from a distance here and I say, hey, go do this, and he's unsure, I get a little closer and then I send him and he does it and I reward him heavily, both verbally and with food motivation. So what he's gonna realize is, hey, this little touch thing that this guy wants me to do, I have to do from everywhere to get paid. Go touch. Yes, good touch. Yes, good touch, good job. Good, so as I move to different spots, it's gonna make him more versatile in the behavior and it's gonna help him capture it further that when I say touch, he's gotta get on that pad no matter where I'm at. So that's what I'm doing is I'm mixing it up a bit. Break, good man, good. Now I'm gonna go the furthest. And what I like to do when I'm doing something far away, such as this, is I'll just actually move towards that direction almost like I'm bowling, like I said, and I kinda just release the bowling ball and hopefully he gets there. Hawk, go touch. And then as soon as he gets to that touch, I then rush him his food and his reward to try to capture that behavior as fast as I can. Break, good, I'm gonna do it again from that distance. Hawk, go to your touch. Ah, go to your touch. Yes, good touch. And now a tab would be really nice to use here because it wouldn't be dragging so I'm just gonna tie this up a bit. Go touch. You're gonna remind. Hawk, go touch. Hawk, touch, no. Touch, yes, good touch. Yes, good touch, yes, good touch. So you got a little troubleshooting there. And what I'm realizing is with him is because he's so food motivated, when I do this, see what he does is he looks for the food because he thinks I'm throwing it. So that's just troubleshooting 101. If you find your dog doing that, stop doing that. So I'm gonna take that away from the aspect to see if that helps him. Break, good. Hawk, go to your touch. Yes, good touch. Yes, good touch, good touch. Good job, break, good. So that was troubleshooting. So that's something I saw. I said, wait a minute, that's becoming a problem. He's more focused on where he thinks I'm throwing the food when I point versus actually doing the behavior. I took it away, he was successful. That was wonderful. Hawk, touch, yes, good touch. So just clarity, beautiful clarity right there. And like I said before, when you're teaching him to go there, I want you to see the clarity I just provided. Break, I just said, hey, Hawk, do this. He said, okay. And again, a lot of dog owners will continue to like talk and talk and talk. And you gotta understand when the dog's out there, they're basically a beacon, or they should be a beacon for your information. So when you're doing all that stuff and you're saying, hey, Hawk, do this, hey, Hawk, do this, or dog, do this, dog, do that. And reinforcing that. It can kind of get confusing and very muddy in the water, if you will. Because you said, okay, I'm gonna go do this. Okay, now what? And they're trying to process all that. So that clarity you just saw is extremely important in this whole process. So I'm just gonna switch locations because that's a crucial role in any obedience factor. That if the dog starts to capture what you want from a certain scenario, then what you can simply do is just switch up your scenario to make sure that it's universally applied to any scenario because that's what good obedience is. Could you touch? Yes, good touch. So we made a little roundabout there. That's okay, good touch. But again, from this distance, Hawk, would you touch? Yes, good touch. Good touch. So now I'm advancing it a little bit. And you may not see how and why I'm advancing it. But what I'm doing, good, break. What I'm doing is when I come over here, I'm going, I'm saying, Hawk, go do this. And I'm not following him up as fast. And I'm also not really indicating that I have anything. I'm just telling you, hey, go there. And he goes there. So what that does is it kind of proves the idea of him knowing the behavior instead of adding all these complexities to like here's food or a pointing or rushing him behind to get him there. Now what I'm doing, Hawk, go touch. Yes, good touch. So again, hands behind my back, very, very, there's no emotion coming out of me to like really motivate him to do it. I'm just saying, hey, go do this. And he does it. And then I follow him up after he's there and he looks at me from a distance. So what I feel like it helps the dog understand is he's seeing me. So I think the gap is this, is he's seeing me from there, even though I told him to go here. And that's the same thing when you're trying to teach a dog how to sit and they don't want to sit away from you. So 10 times out of 10, you teach a dog to sit right here, right? Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. So when you ask a dog to sit when they're far away from you, they've never seen that picture. So it's weird for them and they don't really know how to achieve it. So my point is, is in the dog's brain, when I tell him to place, and then he places and I'm still over there, he's kind of going, oh, like I can do this behavior with you being far away. And what I'm doing is I'm helping him shape the behavior in a more realistic situation because that's gonna be reality. Sit down at the dinner table, hey buddy, go to your bed, they go there. Somebody knocks at the door, you send them away, et cetera. So I'm gonna keep working at that from that distance and see how we do. You can go touch. Yes, good touch, buddy, good touch. And now I'm painting him a further picture by standing here, good touch, rewarding him verbally. And then I will go and give him motivation. And in the future, I'm not gonna give him any food. I'm just gonna say good touch. So that's why I'm starting to break things down and compartmentalize that. I want him to see the picture that I'm just gonna tell him good touch and not give him food at some point because that's not realistic to carry around food in your pocket. That's just silly. So I'm just gonna keep exercising this and get further and further away. You guys kind of get the idea. And then I'm gonna show you another trick here at the end to help capture this as well, okay? Okay, so you guys get the point. So all I'm doing is I'm literally connecting the dots and I'm getting incrementally better and better and better at each location. Now, if you're doing this at home, you can simply do this starting in right next to him, further away, out of the room, out of the next room, so on and so forth. And then you extend at your own pace. So now, last but not least, I'm just gonna show you guys a quick trick to capture the behavior, to how to teach the dog to place on pretty much anything. So what this does is like, when I have, he's not necessarily mine, but my personal dogs, I can pretty much point to anything in the room and as long as it's elevated off the ground, they will get onto it. So I'm just gonna show you how to start creating that, hey, go touch here, go touch here. So the dog knows like, no matter where I say touch, they have to go. And all you simply have to do is just get another place command and put it down. I'll show you right now. I'm just gonna send him back and forth via basically point and voice inflection. Hey, go here, hey, go here, hey, go here. I'm just gonna teach him how to bounce off different things because in the future, if I'm out for a walk and I wanted to go into a stump because there's oncoming dogs or anything, I like to be able to touch and place my dog on pretty much anything. So that's what I'm gonna demonstrate right here really quick. Hawking, go touch. He's like, huh? Yes, good touch. Yes, so this could be rapid fire. I'm gonna do this really quick to really hammer it in. Hawking, go touch. Yes, good touch. Hawking, go touch. Yes, good touch. So you guys are noticing my finger now, go touch. As I'm starting to send him away. Yes, buddy, good touch. Well done. Hawking, you can just add in something else. Like this is a little bit more realistic when you're training. And again, if you have service dogs or therapy dogs or dogs you're working on, environmentally, it's nice to be able to get them confidently touching on different things and different items, different materials on their pads, et cetera. Hawking, touch. Yes, good touch, good. All right, so now I'm just gonna add another little cot here. So different material, different look, different everything. And now I'm gonna do basically four. But I'm gonna extend them out a little bit so I feel confident that he knows what to do. So this is just the advanced stuff. This is proofing. Again, I've worked with this dog for a bit now and I know his capabilities. So I'm taking it a little bit advanced. You guys can do this. You just might wanna take your time a little bit more than what I'm doing with him. Hawking, touch. Yes, good touch. I'm gonna mix it up. Touch. Yes, good touch, buddy. Mix it up again. Touch. I'm pointing. Yes, good touch. Hawk, touch. Nope. Hawk, touch. Good, a little voice inflection correction there. So I gave him a little pressure with my voice. Touch. Yes, good touch. Hawking, touch. Yes, good touch. And again, he's never really sat on a chair so I'll give him the benefits out there. Hawk. I'm gonna mix it up. I'm gonna see where he chooses and I'm gonna go the other way. Touch. Yes, good touch. Yes, Hawk, touch. Yes, so now he, ah, my bad. My timing wasn't good there. Good. Sit. Yes, good, stay. So you guys get the point. A lot of people have a hard time developing the touch command from a distance simply because they don't go from A to B. They go A to F and they get conflicted and frustrated and confused and why their dog can go here, but not from a distance. And that's simply why is because you need to be able to connect the dots and paint a clearer picture for them. So that's basically what I just did. You guys can work on this at home. If this video was helpful to you, let me know in the comments below, like this video. And of course, subscribe to my channel. I put out videos like this all the time. I appreciate you guys' time. I hope you enjoyed it. I, I'll talk to you next time. Peace.