10/14/2026
I've been working hard at nose targeting with Skye, and we finally turned a corner today. What she had been doing was targeting successfully once or twice but with squinty eyes, ears pinned, and a visible flinch, and then actively turning her head away by the third repetition.
What causes this, you ask? A history of "helping" your dog by accidentally bopping them on the nose when you are trying to train nose targeting. Dogs do not like to be popped, and when they anticipate it, they start avoiding contact entirely. They have to make contact with their nose voluntarily to be successful at learning this skill.
Because Skye has a whole lot of general anxiety, this is rather challenging to overcome. I get a lot of appeasement behavior combined with avoidance. Of course, she's also easily distracted by her own hyper-vigilance ("OMG, a noise!!!). Ideally, when we see this level of general anxiety, it's best treated with medication because anxiety is a medical condition. Just as dogs with diabetes are suffering from a lack of insulin and a surplus of glucose, dogs with general anxiety have an imbalance of their own hormones and neurotransmitters, which can only be treated pharmaceutically. With the help of a veterinary behaviorist (or a super behavior-savvy GP vet), we can help regulate those hormones and neurotransmitters so that our dogs have a more optimistic view and are better able to learn.
In the meantime, I'll meet Skye where she is at. I actually had to start targeting with food between my fingers to increase her motivation. Now that she has a tiny bit more confidence, I can move my fingers past her and slowly move them away as she approaches, showing her that she is not at risk of my fingers bopping her in the face.
Because of Skye's general lack of confidence, this is a really important skill for her to learn, even though it may at first appear to be a silly party trick. This is because it teaches her to confidently approach my hands without twisting, groveling, or otherwise showing appeasement. I'll use this skill for recall, positioning, games for exercise, and just building confidence in general.
