Training what you want, where and when
you want it
 |
|
Teaching Hand Targeting
1. Squish a smelly food treat into the space between the second and third fingers down near the palm of the hand.
2. Standing sideways with the target hand nearest the dog, wait for your dog to sniff your hand. When he sniffs, he gets a click, "Yess" or "good dog!" and is then allowed to lick out the treat from between your fingers or you can just open your fingers and let the treat fall to the ground. This step is repeated 10-15 times.
3. Remove the food treat from your hand and begin again. When your dog sniffs/touches your hand, he is clicked and treated BUT now the treat comes from the other non-target hand. If your dog is confidently reaching out to touch your hand, start moving your hand a little so his nose has to follow it before the click/treat. This step is repeated until your dog can follow your hand in all directions. Before moving to step #4 your dog should "touch" your hand with a nice strong push, not just a soft touch.
4. Begin to raise your criteria. Now instead of instead of clicking the first touch do not click until he touches your hand 2X. Think or a broken soda machine, if you get no soda when you push the button, you push the button again and maybe a little harder.
5. Once your dog is enthusiastically touching your hand, you can change hands and begin to move your hand to different locations; high, low, way to the side and so on.
6. You can also ask your dog to target objects, a spatula or a yogurt lid. Begin by having the object in the palm of your hand when you ask your dog to “touch”. Gradually move the object so that you are holding it in your fingertips, but your dog is touching the object, not your palm. Bring the object towards the ground until you are no longer holding it and your dog is targeting the object on the ground. Now you can send your dog to the target!
© Copyright 2003 Liz Maslow, CPDT. All rights reserved.
|
| |
