Targeting,
what is it and why use it?
Candi
Moon
In
targeting the dog is taught to target something, such as your hand or
a target stick with his nose. After the dog has learnt to touch the
target with his nose, he then learns to follow the target for further
and further distances so that you can use the target to move your dog
around.
What
is a target stick?
Usually
it is a wooden dowel rod with a small ball attached to one end. The
dog is taught to target the ball. Target sticks are useful to extend
your reach.
Why
teach your dog to target?
You
can then ‘lure’ your dog into position, when teaching new
behaviours, having your dog follow your hand or target stick instead
of food. This gets the dog thinking about what she is doing right
away, rather than mindlessly following her nose.
By
using targeting in this manner you also automatically have a dog who
does the behaviour without you having food in your hand.
Targeting
is great for teaching tricks and makes training agility obstacles
like the weave poles a cinch.
You
can use targeting to keep your dog with you and get them to walk
nicely at heel.
You
can recall your dog to you quickly by calling for her to touch your
hand, you can also turn your dogs head or move them away from
situations that could be frightening or dangerous for them easily.
Hand
targeting is useful for dogs who jump up, you can ask them to great
visitors by touching their hands with their noses, which usually
keeps all four paws on the floor.
How
do I get started with targeting?
To
begin teaching your dog to target, start out in a quiet place like
your back yard, where there are no distractions. If you have more
than one dog begin by teaching each dog on their own. Get together
several small treats that your dog really likes and a target stick if
you are going to teach your dog to target this.
If
you hold out your hand or the target stick just in front of your
dog’s nose, he should instinctively touch it with his nose. You can
then click with your clicker or say ‘good dog’, reward with a
food treat and try again. If your dog doesn’t try to touch the
target try waggling it a little bit to get your dog’s attention and
see if they will touch it then. You can also touch the target to your
dog’s nose once, and then reward, to get him started.
Once
your dog is reliably touching the target with her nose every time you
hold it out you can start adding in a command word e.g. ‘touch’.
When your dog will confidently touch the target stick each time you
ask, and can repeat the behaviour correctly five times out of five,
then you can move the target just a little further away from her, so
that she has to take a step to touch the target. If she gets this
right praise and reward her and repeat.
Once
you have your dog taking a step or two toward the target you can
start to get creative.Have
your dog follow the target for more and more steps. Then try raising
the target and see if your dog will jump up to touch it. Have your
dog follow the target to weave between your legs, or to put his paws
up against the wall and do ‘paws up’. Have your dog walk nicely
next to you by targeting the target held at your side as you move.
Once
your dog understands the concept of nose targeting you can also teach
them the ‘touch’ command for other items e.g. you could teach
your dog to ‘touch’ the light switch, and then to switch the
light on and off for you.
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