One of the first tasks that I engage in when training a dog or puppy is to teach the Touch cue. Simple. You teach the dog to touch your hand. When I teach the behavior to the dog’s owner, I get these blank looks as if to ask ,“ Why on Earth should the dog touch my hand?” Good question! “

Touch, also called Target training is a basic foundation skill used as a positioning tool. The dog learns to follow a target (in this case your hand.) It is used to get the dog from place to place to place. Almost everything else taught in training builds upon this one behavior.

So what good is it? How is it used?

In the very basic form of “Touch” the dog learns to touch your hand. Your hand is the target. He learns that to be near your hand is a really good thing and it pays off to be around it and touch it. It gets the dog where you want him in preparation for whatever comes next. I like to think of Touch much like the S TART button on your car. You press START before you do anything else. Then you back up. Or pull out into traffic. But nothing happens until you hit (Touch) that button. So Touch signals the start of the next event. Touch and then ask for the Sit. Touch and then ask for the Down.

After the basic Touch is understood you learn how to use Touch to target other behaviors. It is used to teach the heel position—again in this way it is used to tell the dog where he is supposed to walk when with you. Usually he is asked to walk on the left of you and near your left heel. It is also used to teach loose leash walking. The skill is then transferred to other things and places. Go to a place and stay uses targeting.

Service dogs often use touch when learning to perform different tasks. It is used to teach dogs to open and shut cabinet doors. Dogs in movies and tv are touch to know where to stand when on the set or location.

Touch has multiple uses. It even is used to help dogs focus and calm down. If the dog is focused on their owner’s hand they are not focused on the dog across the street or the piece of food that fell to the ground.

So the next time that you hear someone talk about the Touch cue now you know what makes it all so worthwhile.