Cover your eyes, taught with a note on the muzzle

How to teach a dog to cover its eyes usually starts with a light sticky note set on top of the muzzle. When a paw swipes at it, mark and pay. Repeat with a smaller note, then with none, saying your word just before the swipe. If your dog dislikes anything on its face, pick another trick.

What can you put on your dog's muzzle to start?

A low tack sticky note, the kind that lifts off a page with a fingertip. Fold one in half or cut it down so it is about the size of a postage stamp, then press it once against your own sleeve to take the edge off the stickiness. It should rest on the top of the muzzle and come away with a gentle tug.

Skip anything stronger. Firm tape, strips that grip fur and anything that pulls when it peels are all wrong for this, and there is no version of the trick that needs them. If the note will not stay on without pressing hard, it is too sticky for the job.

Start with your dog lying down or sitting, a few treats in your pocket and the note on your fingertip. Touch it to the top of the muzzle and let go. If your dog ignores it, or paws it right away, either is a fine place to begin. If your dog shakes its head or pulls away from the note, take it off and choose a different trick.

The tricks page lists a few that work with a prop, and this is the one where the prop sits on the dog and then fades out.

How do you pay the first paw swipe?

Mark the swipe itself, not a full cover. The instant a paw brushes toward the note, say your marker and pay at the mouth. The note does not have to come off, and the paw does not have to reach it.

Sit beside your dog, not over it, so your body is not looming above the muzzle. Bring the treat to the mouth from the side and keep your hands low and quiet.

A few swipes in a row, then take a break and put the note away. If your dog swipes and the note falls off, that counts. Press on a fresh one and start the next round.

If your dog never reaches for the note, try a smaller one in another session, or look at the face-rub option in the questions below.

How do you fade the note away?

Shrink it in steps. First a smaller piece, then only a corner of one, then a bare fingertip pressing the same spot on the muzzle, then nothing at all. Pay a swipe at each size before moving down, and drop back to the larger piece whenever the paw stops coming.

Add your word when a tiny note still gets a swipe. Say it before you touch the muzzle, wait for the paw, then pay. "Peekaboo" and "hide" both work, so use whichever suits you, in the same voice each time.

When the word is on a bare fingertip, replace the fingertip with a small tap in the air near the muzzle. That is your signal from then on.

Keep the sessions short and stop on a good one. If a swipe is half hearted, do an easy round and end.

Our cheddar bites suit this work, because each swipe needs only a taste. By our listing, they begin small and crumble smaller, and they are a reward for training, not a complete diet.

How do you get a longer cover instead of a quick swipe?

Pay the paw while it rests on the nose. Once the swipes come easily, wait a moment longer before you mark, so that the paw has a moment on the muzzle. Stretch that moment a little at a time, and keep the pay coming while the paw is down.

Starting from a down helps, since the pose holds steadier with your dog lying on the floor. If you want the whole picture to stay still, a stay taught first gives you a way to ask for that.