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Magnet Hand

Have you taught your dog to keep their nose glued to the food, even when you're moving?

I talked about this in a recent post on helping our dogs not sniff, and I thought I'd make it into its own post.

Magnet hand! For some dogs, this practically comes pre-installed, and you don't have to do much for the actual teaching of it. And for other dogs, you really have to work hard on them being able to move while keeping their nose glued to a cookie, both while actively eating and while just following the lure.

This as an essential skill!

Magnet Hand comes from "Loopy Training", a term first coined by Eva and Emily of Carpe Momentum. And the goal is to get rid of all that junk your dog is doing between reps.

What is it?

It's a handful of cookies, and the dog's nose is completely glued to it. Usually it's more than just a lure as the dog is actively eating while moving and keeping their nose glued to the source.

And really, you can do loopy training with the toy too, with the same goal of tugging them all the way from the end of one exercise to the start of another and using that toy as a lure to even set them up at your side!

Why is it so helpful?

In practice, I use this constantly. It allows me to control the start of each exercise without having any junk baked in, such as the dog running off and sniffing.

It also prevents me from nagging my dog to set up because that cookie attached to their nose brings them in nice and close, and exactly the angle where I want them. No repeated cues to sit either as it's quicky lured!

I use it in classes and trials to navigate tight spaces without worrying that my dog is going to come off the food to visit another person or dog.

And with Loot I have even done "Magnet Box Feeding" as I've trained him to keep his head in the box while moving as part of his trial prep!

Video Examples

Video of Loot learning how to move while swallowing and following more food!

And Ginny, who found this skill much, much easier!

Current June Classes

Class has started! Grab them fast if you want to follow along!

Learn how to teach the dog to leave the reward to get the reward! Dog sport prep for training skills (like sends!) and getting ready to trial with the reward at a distance.

Bye Bye Cookie

Get ready for the fun part of obedience! These skills can be started long before you perfect novice obedience! We break it down extensively, maybe a little bit too much with 9 lectures just on marking skills, 5 lectures just on the "sit" part of the go out, and a ton more!

Gloves and Go Outs

Follow me on the social media platform of your choice to try and catch all my daily training videos. I hope they inspire you to try something fun with your dog! And join my free facebook group on building ring confidence for dog sports!