On Target Training – Whole Dog Journal
There’s a behavior that we never used to teach in old-fashioned training classes that is now one of my absolute favorites; I can’t wait to introduce my students to “targeting” – teaching their dogs to touch a designated part of their bodies to a specified object or place. It is not only an amazingly useful behavior, but also fun and easy to teach and most dogs love it. I can’t imagine how we ever got along without it!
TEACHING NOSE TARGETING
We usually start with nose targeting, because dogs tend to investigate with their noses, making a “nose touch” an easy behavior to prompt and capture. If you offer the palm of your hand to your dog with your fingers pointed toward the floor, most dogs will stretch forward and sniff it. Mark (click a clicker or use a verbal marker, such as the word “Yes!”) and give your dog a treat, and you’re on your way! If your dog needs a little encouragement, you can rub a bit of a tasty treat on your hand, and when she sniffs it, mark and treat. Most dogs learn to touch the proffered palm within just a few tries.
As with all behaviors we teach, as soon as you can predict that your dog is going to touch your palm with his nose when you offer it, begin using the verbal cue; I use “Touch!” Note that if she already thinks an open palm is the cue to offer her paw to you for a “Shake,” then you can offer a closed fist or two fingers in place of the open palm.
TEACHING TARGETING WITH PAWS OR OTHER BODY PARTS
If you happen to have a dog who is very “pawsy” (likes to use her feet), teaching her to step on a talking button is likely going to be a breeze; she might just smack that button with her paw when you put it on the floor and you can just “capture” this foot targeting, by marking and reinforcing her randomly offered paw at the button.
The training technique known as “shaping” often works best to teach your dog to target with other body parts. To shape a behavior, you mark and reinforce progressively closer approximations of the behavior you actually want.
To shape a dog to touch a talking button with her paw, you would set the button on the floor, and mark and reinforce (feed her a treat) each time she takes a step toward it – or even if she merely moves a front foot! As she begins to realize she’s getting reinforced for foot movement, she’ll start to move her paw on purpose and you’ll be able to shape her to touch her foot to the button, or anything else you have in mind.
If you want her to target with other body parts – say, a shoulder or hip – shape it the same way: Mark and treat any movement with that body part until she’s deliberately moving it, then shape for targeting. (See “Shaping Your Dog’s Behavior,” Feb. 2017.)
COUNTLESS THINGS TO DO WITH A TARGET
Here are just a few of the things you can do with your dog’s targeting behavior:
* USES FOR NOSE TARGETING
*Positioning your dog. You can use nose targeting to invite your dog onto the walk-on scale at your veterinary clinic, into your vehicle, through a doorway, out of your path, onto the sofa – the list is endless.
*Teach tricks. Kai, our Kelpie, will leap five feet into the air to target to my hand, and weave through my legs, targeting to a hand on each side as he passes through. I also used a hand target to teach my dog Bonnie to open a picnic basket with her nose.
*Perform household behaviors. Your dog can close or open drawers with her nose and use touch-on/touch-off features of lamps or push-button dial 911 in an emergency.
*Decrease fear. If your dog is worried about something but loves targeting, you can ask her to touch your hand as you move past or away from the aversive object or person. This focuses her attention toward you and helps the emotional part of her brain shift from “Oh, scary person!” to “Yay, targeting!”
*Call your dog to you. If your dog loves targeting but is a little “meh” about her recall cue, try asking her to “Touch!” when you want her to come to you. She has to come to you to touch your palm!
*Move your dog away from you. Teach her to target to a cottage cheese lid, then tape the lid to a wall and ask her to target to it. Gradually send her across the room to her lid-target from farther and farther away.
Polite leash walking. (See “Moving Target,” page 5, for instructions on how to teach this.)
* FOOT TARGETING
*Touching buttons. Your dog can foot-target to talking buttons as part of a fun routine. There are also light buttons that she can turn on and off with a tap of her paw.
*Communication. My Corgi, Lucy, used a paw touch to my foot to signal me she had found an odor (her “alert”) when we were doing scent work. Your dog could touch you with a paw as her cue to ask to go outside, or use her paw (or nose) to ring a bell or a buzzer as her bathroom “ask.”
*Agility. An important skill in the sport of agility is making sure your dog hits the contact zones at the end of obstacles. This is often accomplished by teaching the dog to hind-foot target to the contact zone.
* Targeting with Other Body Parts
*Target an ear toward you or your veterinarian for a physical examination or for an application of ear cleaner or medication.
*Target an open mouth to a metal bar for mouth exam or tooth cleaning (I saw a bear who was taught to do this at the Taronga Zoo in Australia!).
*Target the chin to a rolled-up towel on a chair for cooperative care procedures.
*Target a hip to a target stick to teach a pivot.
These examples just scratch the surface of the versatility and variety of potential applications for targeting. Do you have examples of other targeting behaviors you’ve taught your dog? Please share!
ed drugs online https://pillswithoutprescription.pro/#
Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful post.
Thank you for supplying this information.
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted at this
website is actually fastidious.
What’s up everyone, it’s my first visit
at this web site, and paragraph is truly fruitful in favor of me, keep
up posting these articles.
Thank you for the good writeup. It in truth was once a enjoyment
account it. Glance complex to far delivered agreeable from
you! However, how could we keep up a correspondence?
I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles
or weblog posts in this kind of house . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this website.
Studying this info So i’m happy to express that I have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed.
I so much indisputably will make sure to do not fail to remember this website and provides it a glance on a continuing basis.
I constantly spent my half an hour to read
this web site’s articles every day along with a mug of coffee.
Hello it’s me, I am also visiting this website
on a regular basis, this web page is truly fastidious and the viewers are genuinely sharing fastidious thoughts.
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but,
I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some ideas
for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great
site and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after
checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyhow, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back
frequently!
I enjoy what you guys are up too. This sort of
clever work and coverage! Keep up the amazing works
guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.
Simply want to say your article is as amazing. The clarity in your put up
is simply nice and i can suppose you’re an expert in this subject.
Fine with your permission allow me to snatch your RSS
feed to stay updated with imminent post. Thanks 1,000,000
and please continue the enjoyable work.
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to
do it for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out
where u got this from. kudos
Truly when someone doesn’t understand after that its up
to other people that they will help, so here it occurs.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Small Business Branding.
Regards
deep web drug links dark web sites blackweb official website
darknet site dark web links drug markets dark web
dark websites darknet drug market darknet search engine