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I'm looking for advices on how to train my dog some specialized skills. I've recently had problems with my neighbor throwing dog kibble over the wall and I would like to train my dog to refuse it. I have no clue on how to even start, so any advice would help. The other skill I would like to teach is having my dog touch her nose to my hand as a request for the bathroom. She asks now by standing at the door but at night that isn't going to wake up my husband and she's had some "accidents" with an upset stomach as a result. If anyone has some starting ideas, or even some books or videos that are recommended I would greatly appreciate it. Ohh just a little side note so I don't seem like a bad owner. I have talked to the neighbor with NO immediate results. Adding a dog door is not an option either because of the neighbor and because the house just isn't structurally set up for it.
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picture didn't work. . . maybe this one will.

I messed up on posting the picture on the last message so, here's my girl standing pretty on her own in the backyard.

She's beautiful.. I understand what you mean about neighbour problems. I don'y know how to teach a dog to refuse food though, no matter where it comes from. If you find out, I'd love to know. I've been trying to train my dog to stop picking up food scraps on walks for over a year with no success.

I have taught my dog to touch my hand though. It's not when he wants outside, just when I ask for it ("touch!". The problem I can see with that would be, what happens if she can't find your hand? If you're sleeping and your hands don't happen to be visible, she'll likely get very confused and possibly upset.

To teach my guy to touch my hands though I simply held out my hand right near his nose and when he sniffed it, I said "good!" and gave him a treat. We went through that about 10 times and then I started moving my hand a few inches away and saying "Touch!". When he sniffed it, another treat and praise. Within a few days I could say touch! anywhere in the house and he would come running and touch his nose to my hand. Don't know if that helps you, but that's what I did.

Maybe you could hang a bell or similar near the door and teach her to ring it when she wants out? Kaiser is trained to do that, and it's a much more pleasant sound than barking or whining. To do that, we just hung the bell from a decent width rope (he's a chewer when he gets excited and the original string broke quickly) on a hook near the door. We didn't want to hang it on the door because the bell would sound each time we opened it and we didn't want it to be confusing for him. The hook is about a foot away from the door.

When he wanted out we asked "outside?" and when he responded by tail wagging and jumping, we rang the bell and then asked him to sit and opened the door to let him out. When we say "okay", off he goes. It took about 4 days for him to realize that he heard the bell just before going out, every single time. That was when he started ringing it himself and then sitting, staring at the door.

Thanks for your response and advice. I think I might have an idea of how to make the hand "Touch" thing work. As for not being able to find my hand while sleeping, she does a great job of staring at me till I get up. I don't think she would mind digging around under the pillow until she found my hand either, she already does it to my face.

lol. I'd love it if my dogs just 'touched' when they needed out. normally if they need out during the day, if i get up they get up and scurry to the door and i ask 'outside' and they'll turn circles. its cute. but if im still in bed and they need out, they'll just sit on either side of the bed and stare. i swear i can feel it and if that doesn't work, i get a little quiet arf. you can't hardly hear it but its there. saturday mornings are a different story though, 8 am rolls around and if someone isnt up, the dogs are jumping on the bed and digging the covers off us and trying to eat pillows and then we get a nice tongue bath. i might try the touch thing....
Beth

As for the refusing food....First off you got to start small. Simply put a peice of ham or meat on the floor. The dog will take off after it, this is when u refuse him and say no and push his no away. He will reload and shoot after it again stop him again. Repeat and eventually he will stop and look at you and possibly whine. This is not only a great way to teach him to refuse food but it also teaches and reinforces what no means. I've trained many dogs using this technique both german shepherds and non-german shepherds. Now you dont have to be mean using this technique but you do have to be stern and unwielding. Also make sure you teach the "eat it" command along with this. Simply say eat it in a happy voice if he doesnt eat it push him towards it and repeat it until he does and then praise. keep working on this and eventually expand it and hopefully you can expand it into him refusing food from the neighbors.