Dog Health Questions: Which dog trainer advocates "nose flicks"?

I keep seeing people refer to "nose flicks" as some sort of training method or technique. I have had the privilege of working with & learning from many top obedience trainers & AKC judges over the last 20 years, but I have never heard anyone advocate doing such a thing as it is essentially a euphemism for hitting the dog. Obviously this would be anywhere from detrimental to downright dangerous in the case of some dogs. Is this some kind of thing one of those TV trainers advocates? I know some of them are really just actors pretending to be trainers, so it sounds like something one of them came up with.

Just curious where it comes from as I see those exact words "nose flick" so often here and always from people who obviously do not know much about dog training.

Thanks!

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Here on YA is the only place I have ever heard of people flicking dogs noses. In fact I have never seen any other dog forum or website where so many people advise hitting/slapping/tapping or otherwise using their hands to abuse their dogs. Sweet Jeebus, they even suggest hitting a little puppy who is not yet house trained.

I've met a lot of dog trainers in my time and not one of them has ever suggested nose flicking to be a training method. If anyone flicked my dog's nose they would very smartly have their nose flicked by yours truly to see how they like it. IMO the only people who rough house their dogs and refer to it as training are those who don't know how to train a dog.

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• As someone who trains Pure Koehler, I can not say that I have ever been told about a nose flick.
  My instructor spent many many years training directly with Bill Koehler.
  It is not something related to the Koehler Method of dog training, and I have trained through Utility with the method.
  
  This is definitely a term I have never heard before.


• I've watched by Ceasar Milan and Victoria Stillwell and have never seen either of these TV trainers use nose flicks. Of all the instructors I've ever trained with, none have ever recommended doing a nose flick.
  
  I tell you, if someone flicked me in the nose, I'd bite them.
  
  edit: I've heard of a ear pinch to train a forced retrieve, but I've never heard of a nose pinch.


• I don't see how ''nose flicking'' would be needed to train a dog. Train a dog to do what? That's what I don't get. I've VERY lightly tapped my dog on the nose before to get her nose out of something like a bag, my shirt, dresser, etc. but not flick it. Don't know where the method came from either nor when it would be needed.


• Eh...maybe someone tried to smack a dog on the behind (following the human principle) and couldnt tell the back side of the dog from the front side?
  
  IDK...Yahoo is actually the first time I've ever heard of training "techniques" having to do with a dog's nose lol


• Nose flicks are ridiculous. Can you get a dog to exhibit a certain behavior by inflicting pain? Yeah, probably, but who in their right mind wants that kind of relationship with their dog. I want my dog to do what I want simply because I've asked him to.


• one of the best trainers ive gone to has never done that and some others ive watched b4 i would take them to them havent done that doesnt seem like it would work very well but maybe for some


• I have done it, not so much a flick as a swipe at his nose, enough to make him 'sneeze'. I did it to teach him not to bite as a puppy and again to teach him not to snap at food that was handed to him and my dad was the one who showed me how to do it and when.
  People can say what they want about it but it worked very well for me and my dog didn't get damaged or become hand shy because of it. For me to disregard it, someone needs to show me that it is physically damaging to the dog or it is ineffective, neither of which has been the case with my own experience.


• I've heard of it. It's been around since before I started training. This was a time that more "hands on" training was done. It's a correction technique just like a collar pull, leash correction or other consequence. I think that I first saw the technique mentioned in a book by Blanche Saunders. I don't remember which one. William Koehler and Bob Self I'm sure also used the technique some. Ruth Tabaka taught several of us how to use a nose pinch to train the forced retrieve at a seminar in the 1980's. I don't know of any TV trainers that use it but then I don't watch the TV trainers. I'm sure just like any method, if it is used properly by someone experienced in the technique, it probably works fine. I've found other methods that work best for me.