Targeting is a skill that is becoming more and more popular with owners of all walks of life as this is one of the most important building blocks for other behaviors. So many other behaviors are built on the foundation of targeting skills. Sit, down, off, come, heel, crate training, door manners, bath time, all of these behaviors, and more can be trained using targeting skills. That is why this needs to be one of the first things you teach your puppy. It might seem odd at first to focus on something other than “obedience,” but targeting is a skill that almost all animals can learn pretty fast, and it can have a significant impact on all the other training you do with your puppy. Targeting is something you need; take time to train it from the beginning.
What is Targeting?
Targeting is when, in this case, a puppy consciously touches a “target” (usually an object) with a specific part of its body—for example, the nose target. The nose target is the first skill I teach every puppy, and it consists of the puppy touching an object (I use my hand for medium to large breeds and a touch stick for small and toy breeds) with its nose. I teach the nose target first because it is easy for most puppies to learn and is often learned pretty fast when trained with a marker signal. The reason it is often easy for puppies to figure out is because most healthy puppies naturally investigate things with their nose, like in the picture above (exceptions to this might include puppies who have had little to no human socialization, have been abused, or puppy mill puppies who can have mental challenges that limit their natural curiosity). This investigation strategy means when a hand, or other object, is presented to them, puppies often naturally move in to investigate it. Getting the initial movement in the correct direction is usually half that battle in training, so with the puppy already moving in to sniff the target, they are already performing the behavior; they just need to be taught to repeat it, which is done with marker training.
One Skill, Many Important Behaviors
One important thing to remember regarding targeting is that it is not just one behavior. Targeting is a skill, but there are many different targeting behaviors. For puppies, I make sure people teach the nose target and paw targeting (preferably with all four paws). However, the more targeting behaviors your puppy knows, the more tools it has in its toolbox for training sessions. See, when using marker training, the first step is to produce deliberate movement in the puppy and then click when you see a small fraction of the complete behavior you want to train. Ideally, your puppy will experiment to see what will get the click (marker signal) to go off and thus earn it a reinforcer. If your puppy has already learned to nose target, it will probably try that. But say you are trying to teach your puppy to wear snow boots. A nose target will not help. Actually, a nose target is counterproductive in that case. However, if your puppy knows a paw target, it will probably try the nose target first, then, having not received a click from you, move on to the next skill it knows, the paw target. Once your puppy touches the boot with its paw, you click, and the puppy begins to learn that when the boot is presented, the behavior you want revolves around the use of its paw. After this, you can work from there, shaping the behavior into your desired end behavior (e.g., your puppy putting its paw into the boot). Now, imagine you want to teach your puppy to heel. You can teach your puppy to target your leg with its ear or shoulder. Elbow and belly targeting are used in teaching a “lie down” behavior. An extended chin target can be used to teach a settle on a mat, dental care, ear care, eye care, and more. In short, targeting is a must!
Tips for Teaching Targeting
Targeting is fun for both puppies to learn and people to train. However, there are some common problems that can slow down the process. Here are some tips for solving these problems and making target training even more fun!
Tip #1 – Keep your click and treat separate. The distinction between these two movements is crucial when teaching any behavior. So much so that this is one of the first things we trainers check for when a puppy isn’t figuring something out in training. The reason this problem can be so impactful is because of clicker timing. If you click while you reach for your treats, you might accidentally click your puppy for looking at your hand or bag rather than performing the targeting behavior. This mistake will cause confusion as the puppy may think it should look at your hand or bag rather than target something. To prevent this confusion, practice in a mirror, clicking, reaching for treats, and returning your treat hand to a neutral position (e.g., flat on your thigh). Get really comfortable with this before you start training with your puppy.
Tip #2 – Keep training short. Nose targeting can be easy to teach, which often means people assume that paw targeting and other forms of targeting will go just as fast. However, your puppy has to do a lot of thinking, especially with paw targeting. This additional processing that your puppy needs to do means it might not get the new form of targeting as fast as it did the nose target; this is completely normal. No matter how much you want to, resist doing long training sessions just to get one more round in. Set a timer for three minutes and stop when it goes off. Finish with a treat jackpot.
Tip #3 – Keep training loops clean. A clean loop is when the puppy performs a behavior; you click for it, deliver the treat, then reset and repeat, all in a smooth, predictable pattern with little to no interruptions. The cleaner your loops, the easier it will be for your puppy to understand the specific behavior you want it to repeat.
If you have never taught targeting before, or have run into a problem, check out the services below that can help you! You can schedule a full session or a short, guided session! Whichever is most helpful to you! If you have questions about the different between the "New PUppy Behavior Training" and the "Puppy Behavior Training" check out the FAQ's at the bottom of the services page!
Photo Credit #1: Wix
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