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Deanna asked:
Hey, do you know how to do the trick ‘treat on nose’ if so tell me?!
We’ve taught each of our dogs to do this fun trick.
Here’s how we did it…
Like most dog tricks, the younger your dog is when you start teaching this trick, the better.
Nevertheless, a dog of any age can learn this trick after just a few lessons.
Some people teach their dogs to do this while the dog is seated. Others find it easier to get the dog to cooperate when the dog is lying down. Either way works okay, but we’ve had better luck while the dog is sitting.
How To Do The ‘Balance On The Nose’ Trick:
#1 
Have your dog in the “sit” or “lie down” position, and make sure that his attention is fully on you.
#2 Place a very small piece of your dog’s favorite dog treat on the middle (flat part) of his nose.
#3 IMMEDIATELY say, “OK!” and let him get the treat. Then, IMMEDIATELY give lots of praise… a crazy amount of praise is required here!
Why? Because to your dog, it will feel weird to have something sitting on top of his nose, so he’ll ignore whatever you say and get the treat anyway. Saying “OK!” shows that’s exactly what you wanted to happen, and he was following your orders! And the overly enthusiastic praise shows your dog he did the right thing.
#4 Afterwards, give your dog a separate treat — as a reward for getting the treat from his nose, on command.
#5 Do steps 1 thru 4 over and over again, several times in a row. The most important thing: Each time you do it, increase the amount of time between when you put the treat on your dog’s nose and when you say “OK!”.
The tricky part is being able to tell the millisecond before your dog will just get it on his own — out of irritation if nothing else. The longer you can increase the time before saying “OK!”, the more your dog is “getting it”.
Some Tips…
Your dog’s own attention span will determine how many times in a row you try this in one sitting.
For some dogs, it will only take a couple of times before they realize what you’re asking and what they’re doing. Other dogs may tire of this “game” — in which case, you should stop the training and come back to it several hours later.
The most important thing is to keep practicing steps 1 thru 4 two or three times a day, and for several days in a row.
Never reprimand, or act discouraged when/if your dog does it “wrong”. Every little itty bitty ounce of improvement is worth a billion times more praise and enthusiasm each time.
…It worked for us.
Here are videos showing this dog trick in action!
I like to help Dog Parents find unique ways to do things that will save time & money — so I write about “outside the box” Dog Tips and Dog Hacks that most wouldn’t think of. I’m a lifelong dog owner — currently have 2 mixed breed Golden Aussies that we found abandoned on the side of the road as puppies. I’ve always trained my own dogs and help friends train theirs, as well. Professionally, I worked at a vet and have several friends who are veterinarians — whom I consult with regularly. (And just because I love animals so much, I also worked at a Zoo for awhile!) I’ve been sharing my best ideas with others by blogging full-time since 1998 (the same year that Google started… and before the days of Facebook and YouTube). My daily motivation is to help first-time dog owners be better prepared from the first day your new puppy enters your home. I like to help dog owners understand what’s ‘normal’ and what you can expect in terms of living with and training your dog — how to get through the ups & downs of potty training, chewing, teaching commands, getting your dog to listen, and everything else that takes place during that hectic first year! When I’m not training, walking, grooming, or making homemade treats for my dogs, you will find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites). To date, I’ve written over 500 articles for dog owners on this site! Many of them have upwards of 200K shares.
I used your article to teach my dog this trick. I manage to get him to stay still and keep the treat onhis nose for as long as I want but when I tell him ok he simply lets it drop to the floor and then its it. How do I ge thim to snap it off his nose?
Thanks
Jasonlevi – The first thing that comes to mind is some dogs aren’t naturally of the mindset to “catch things”. Period. Other dogs aren’t of the mindset to catch only CERTAIN things (like my dog could care less about catching a Frisbee, but he’ll catch a treat without blinking!).
So I would try to spend several days in a row of getting your dog to just catch treats as you toss them. Sit close to him while you do this, but toss from different angles — getting him used to catching from different angles & sometimes lunging forward or scooping down in order to make the catch.
Do that a lot until there’s no question that he’s comfortable with catching the same type of treat that you’ll be using for the treat-on-the-nose trick.
My other recommendation would be to try a brand new treat (like a semi-moist liver dog treat — Biljac makes the best ones that are available at PetSmart) for this particular trick. You want something that he absolutely cannot resist snatching and trying to catch.
My final recommendation is to watch (for days or even weeks) for any action that your dog does that even remotely resembles catching something that slides off his nose. The millisecond you see him even ATTEMPT to do something similar, praise him loudly and happily (as if he’s just done the treat-on-the-nose-trick) and say, “Good catch!” or whatever words you want to use for this behavior all the time.
That’s the easiest way I’ve found to teach a dog a new trick is to build off of something he’s already doing on his own. You’re just associating the behavior you WANT your dog to do with a similar behavior that he already (even if accidentally) does — on his own. The loud happy praise plus the treat plus whatever phrase you call it will help your dog “associate” the behaviors as being one in the same — in a dog’s eyes.
My beagle won’t sit still long enough for me to get it to sit on his nose. He’s VERY treat motivated, which usually makes it very easy to train him tricks. However, he gets so focused on the treat that he won’t let me get it on top of his nose. He’ll just stand up, move back and look up at it with such excitement that the nose is never in one spot long enough for it to sit there.
After a few attempts he tends to get frustrated, take a step backwards so I can’t reach him, and barks at me 🙂
I’m wondering now about trying with a treat he doesn’t like as much… but he likes all food so much, that’s difficult!
Thanks for the tips.
Going to try out this technique later when I got back home. I tried before but my dog just eat straight and ignores me. I guess I need to have more patience in training him. 🙂