I taught Daisy to target my hands with her nose a while ago, or at least that's what I thought I taught her. She will chase my hands quite happily. However, I initially taught it by holding food in my target hand and while I thought I was teaching duration in following, apparently she was just learning to lick my hands with enthusiasm.
Up until now that hasn't been a huge problem because I haven't used it for much, except having her watch my hands for directions. Today, however, I tried to pull the "say your prayers" trick off the shelf again and was trying to teach her to "bow her head" by touching my hand. She obviously thought that if she just licked and chewed (ouch!) just little bit more, she was going to get that treat, without paying the slightest attention to her head position. I guess I should be rewarding her sooner, but her tongue seems to come out of her mouth before her head moves, lol.

So any ideas on how I fix this now? I tried going back to square one and just rewarded her for looking at my empty hands and then just moving toward them. And then I tried to mark for non-mouthiness, but I don't think she has any clue what I'm really asking for and frankly both of my hands start smelling like treats really fast, so the temptation to lick is pretty big.

bumping upon request

How old is the dog?

So are you still holding the treat in your hand as a lure to get her to bring her nose in to touch?

Have you tried re-teaching her without holding the food in your hand to lure her, but using shaping instead?

I also, would only show one hand and keep the other either at your side or behind you - this way you can differentiate between a working command and holding your hands out as a greeting/and or to lick.

Have you tried just waiting her out?

So I would hold the treat in my non-touch hand to start. Then hold my hand out to signal what should be a touch with the nose. If she licked my hand I would just continue to sit there and wait her out, if she tried to bite my hand I would do a small sound to disuade biting/chewing. But you basically want her so frustrated that she starts trying multiple things to earn that treat - if after a few minutes she didn't figure it out, I would break the session and work on something else. Then try frequent sessions (short) to try to get her to figure out what I wanted. When she does, make sure you are ready to really make a big deal out of it.

She is 11 yrs and not normally a super licky dog, except when I'm handing out treats. She and I are both pretty new to marker and target training (though she has been trained with treat rewards for most of her life).

I'm trying not to hold the treat in my hand anymore, though I'm pretty sure I probably did have it there at least a few times last night out of habit and frustration. She is very used to being lured and shown what to do. Shaping is something her brain just hasn't seemed to grasp yet. I'm not quite sure how to make that click. Though I think that was what I was trying to achieve when I went back to square one last night.

I have tried waiting her out, for a little while anyway. If I had the treat in my hand she tried to chew it. If I either corrected her (verbally) for the chewing or took the treat out of my hand she started offering other unrelated, but previously trained behaviours, like staring at me or sitting, ignoring my hand completely. I haven't waited to the point that she completely walked away, though.

Later last night I did try to get her to touch things with no food association, like a stick and a plastic lid (without luring her beyond tapping with my finger) and we didn't have much success at all.

I experimented with her a bit more later and again just now. She will touch my hand without a treat in it for a split second, but as soon as it starts to smell like treats (or if I ask for any kind of duration of touch) the licking begins. Maybe its really the duration she really doesn't understand. She doesn't lose interest often, but she does seem to get frustrated and stop thinking.

 Quote: Niomi Smith

I also, would only show one hand and keep the other either at your side or behind you - this way you can differentiate between a working command and holding your hands out as a greeting/and or to lick.

So I would hold the treat in my non-touch hand to start. Then hold my hand out to signal what should be a touch with the nose. If she licked my hand I would just continue to sit there and wait her out, if she tried to bite my hand I would do a small sound to disuade biting/chewing. But you basically want her so frustrated that she starts trying multiple things to earn that treat - if after a few minutes she didn't figure it out, I would break the session and work on something else. Then try frequent sessions (short) to try to get her to figure out what I wanted. When she does, make sure you are ready to really make a big deal out of it.

I will try this for a while, thanks!