Post by DogGoneGood on Aug 16, 2009 13:44:56 GMT -5
Targeting
by Shara Slorstad
Master Dog Trainer
Dog Gone Good Training
Master Dog Trainer
Dog Gone Good Training
“Targeting” is used to teach a dog to touch an object with its nose. Usually it is started with “hand targeting”; teaching the dog to touch your hand with its nose. If you use a clicker for training, this is a perfect example of when to use it to help teach your dog the exact behavior you are looking for. If you don’t use a clicker in training, now may be the time to invest in one!
Warning: if dog drool makes you squeamish this may not be the best trick for you.
To start, get a bag of treats and cut them into small pieces (about the size of a dime). The treats should be chewy and easy for your dog to eat quickly. Place them somewhere that is easily within your reach, but not your dogs.
Sit on the floor with your dog and pinch a treat between your thumb and the palm of your hand so that when you flatten your hand out you can still hold onto the treat. Reach your hand out in front of your dog so that it’s easily within his reach and he can smell the treat in your hand, and give him a verbal cue (I use “touch”). When your dog reaches for the treat and in the process touches your hand with his nose, click with the clicker and release the treat from your hand, giving him lots of verbal and physical praise.
Keep doing this until your dog is starting to get the hang of what to expect when you reach your hand out and give him the cue “touch”. Next you can try moving your hand farther away in front of the dog or above his head a little bit so he has to make more of an effort to reach it. If he does not move for your hand you’ve gone too far too fast. Take a step back in training by moving your hand closer to his face. Click and reward when he touches your hand with his nose to get the treat.
Once you have your dog moving up, forward, and downwards to reach your hand with his nose (this may take a few lessons; remember that each lesson shouldn’t be more than 5 – 10 minutes long). Try taking the treat away from your target hand and move your hand back to the original position that is easily within his reach. Your dog will most likely go for the hand the first time you do this, thinking there will be a treat in it for him. As soon as he touches your hand with his nose click and give a jackpot reward of lots of praise and several treats. The second or third time you try this may be the whole “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” saying. Your dog may refuse to reach for your hand, knowing very well there is no treat in it. Put the treat back in your target hand and try again one more time, reward when he goes for the hand, and then try again without the treat. It will take a few tries, but eventually your dog will learn that even though there’s no treat in the target hand, he still receives a treat (or a jackpot of treats) when he touches your hand with his nose.
Again, once your dog is touching your hand with his nose without the treat in it, move your hand away to make the task more difficult.
That’s all there is to it! You have successfully taught your dog how to target to your hand!
The purpose of this trick is to set up for other, more complicated tricks such as turning the light switch on or off. To move the target from your hand to another object you can use something like a post-it note in your target hand until your dog gets use to targeting to the post-it. Once your dog is targeting the post-it in your hand, you can move the post it to whatever object you wish him to target (such as the light switch). Repeat this several times until the dog is successfully targeting the post-it on the light switch, and then try removing the post-it.
It may take several lessons with the post-it attached to your hand before your dog is making the connection. You just taught him to touch your hand and he was feeling pretty good about learning this new skill, and now you’re completely changing it on him. Take it slow. You can even try, after a few lessons, moving the post-it from your hand and attaching it to the wall next to your dog at his level and have him touch it there several times and reward with lots of praise and jackpots! This will boost his self confidence in the trick and solidify it in his mind what he needs to do.
You can change your verbal cue for different actions by adding them in and taking away the first cue. For example, when teaching the light switch trick you may want to use the cue “lights”. When you first start this target (you’re still using the post-it) you will be telling your dog “Fido, Touch Lights”. Keep repeating this until your dog understands the action of touching the light switch to turn it on or off. Then you can start by weaning out the “touch” cue by every so often removing it. You may tell your dog “Fido, Touch Lights” 3 or 4 times in a row and then once just tell him “Fido, Lights”, and the next 3 or 4 times you tell him “Fido, Touch Lights” again. Eventually you’ll be telling him “Fido, Lights” two times and then 3 times “Touch Lights”, then three times while “touch” is twice, etc. until you have weaned out the cue “touch” all together.
Be creative, the possibilities in what you can use targeting for are endless! You can teach Fido to turn the lights on and off, push a ball with his nose, play the piano, close a door, and more!