I recently wrote about targeting skills and behaviors and how targeting skills can be used to teach other behaviors. If you have not yet read that article, click here to check it out! Targeting “skills” are different than targeting “behaviors”. A skill is essentially something one is good at doing and applying to other areas of life. A behavior is the actual physical action displayed by the individual. When you teach your dog targeting “behaviors”, it will develop targeting “skills” and both you and your dog will learn how to use this essential foundation skill to make the rest of your training go smoothly! In this article, I will continue my discussion on targeting and cover how to apply targeting to training, some helpful do’s and don’ts of using targeting, my top ten behaviors I like to train using targeting, and a brief explanation on how targeting can help in day-to-day life with your dog!
Applying Targeting to Training
The first targeting behavior that people should teach their dog is the nose to hand target. This target is very simple for both the person and the dog to learn and can be applied to many other training processes and daily situations. When I train this behavior, I name it “touch”. As a result, for the purposes of this article, I will refer to this nose to hand targeting behavior as “the touch behavior” or simply “touch”.
The first thing you need to know before you can use the touch behavior to train another behavior is what the goal behavior is for your dog. When you sit down to figure this out, don’t simply state, “I want my dog to come when I call it”. Structure a sentence that contains click points within it. This way you will know beforehand what you will be clicking for. For example, rather than saying “I want my dog to come when I call it”, say something like, “When I say “come” I want my dog to run to me, stop one foot in front of me, and sit down”. Get detailed about what you want your dog to do and when. Rather than simply say “when I call him”, write down what cue you want to use. Rather than say “I want him to come” explain what you want it to look like, how fast you want it to happen, and what your dog should do when he gets to you. Write out all these details in one sentence.
Once you have your sentence, build a plan for how to get there. What are the steps? Break the behavior down into its smaller parts. If you have never done this before, read my article entitled “How to Choose Criteria for Effective Behavior Training” to find some guidelines for building your list of criteria. Once you have that list, I want you to go through that list and determine if targeting can be helpful in teaching your dog what to do. For example, if you want your dog to respond quickly to the come cue, you may want to increase your dog’s enthusiasm level. However, this can result in a dog who jumps on you as soon as it gets to you. How can you prevent this and set your dog up to succeed? You can add a target! When you call your dog, have it touch your hand when it gets to you. This can not only increase your dog’s speed (because it loves the touch behavior), but it can also teach your dog to aim for your hand instead of jumping on you.
Now that you have figured out where the target can be helpful, you need to make sure you know how you are going to use it. The overarching idea here is that you are going to use the target to position your dog. However, you want to dig into the details here to make sure that you are not adding something that is unnecessary, confusing your dog, or creating a third behavior for both you and your dog to think about. To make sure you add in targeting correctly, follow the do’s and don’ts list below.
Do’s and Don’ts of using Targeting to Train Other Behaviors
Do: Use the target to position your dog. Once your dog understands the concept of touching a target with its body, you can use this targeting skill to help your dog get into the correct position. For example, if you are working on heel, rather than depend on your dog occasionally accidently ending up in the correct position and gradually clicking the behavior into existence, add in a hand target the first couple of times to start your dog off in the correct position.
Don’t: Use the target to convince your dog to do something. If your dog is uncertain about entering a location, do not use targeting to “lure” your dog into the scary place. You can use it to position the dog, but you need to gradually work your way towards the scary thing, and if your dog ops not to touch the target, do not keep asking it to do so. For example, if your dog is afraid of doorways, you can ask it to touch your hand near the doorway but far enough away that your dog feels safe and comfortable with touching your hand. As your dog becomes more and more enthusiastic about touching that target in the situation, you can ask if it will touch the target when it is very slightly closer to the doorway. If your dog says no, then go back to the place where the dog is comfortable and work from there.
Do: Fade out the target. As your dog learns to get into the correct position or perform the correct behavior, you will need to fade out the target so that your dog will position on its own, then add in the cue for that behavior. The target is simply there to help your dog succeed. To help keep your dog from getting confused, please make sure to fade out the target before you add a cue to the new behavior.
Don’t: Abruptly remove the target. When it comes time to fade out the target, you need to do so very gradually. At this point, the behavior most likely is dependent on the target, so you need to start making the target smaller, until your dog learns to position itself. This is a gradual process and needs to be done with finesse.
Do: Train multiple types of targeting. There are so many types of targeting and the more your dog knows, the easier it will be to use targeting to train other behaviors and manage your dog. Your dog must at least learn to target with its nose and paws and follow a target. Once you have those trained, let me know in the comments if you want me to write about the other targeting behaviors you can train!
Do: Always mark and reinforce targeting behaviors. There are some behaviors that can eventually be put on what are called “Real Life Rewards” or RLR’s. This allows you to reinforce your dog for doing a well-trained behavior but without food reinforcers. However, for targeting behaviors, I recommend that you always mark and reinforce these with your dog’s favorite training reinforcer (e.g. food or play). Having these behaviors always reinforced like this helps make them even more reliable!
Do: Proof your dog’s targeting behaviors. Train your dog to perform these behaviors anywhere and any moment! That way these behaviors will always be ready to use at a moment’s notice! If you need help check out another article entitled “Preparing Your Dog for Real Life: Proofing Behaviors”.
Don’t: Limit yourself or your dog. If your dog has a hard time figuring something out, targeting might be just what you need. If your dog knows the concept of targeting with its paws, it will have a much easier time learning to do things like go lay down on its bed. Don’t be afraid to get creative and have fun!
Do: Know that targeting is part of many behaviors. The more your dog knows about targeting, the more tools your dog will have to solve a problem. If your dog needs help figuring something out, pull out the targeting behaviors your dog knows and see if one can help! To find out how to teach the Nose to Hand target and Follow the Target, click here and choose the VIP membership plans to get access to the Training Lab blog category and the DIY training plans!
Behaviors you Can Train Using Targeting
As mentioned previously, the nose to hand target it not the only helpful targeting behavior that you should teach your dog. You should also teach your dog to follow a target, “hold” the target (meaning they touch the target and stay there until released), and target with other parts of the body such as the paws. So now that you know a little bit about using targeting in training and what targeting behaviors you can train, I want to give you a list of my top ten behaviors that can be trained using targeting! Check out the list below to find out what you can do with your dog’s new targeting skills!
1. Go to bed
2. Come
3. Sit
4. Stay
5. Lay down
6. Heel
7. Nail clipping
8. Bath time
9. Object introduction (e.g. introducing your dog to the harness or a muzzle)
10. Position hold (e.g. for vet visits or other husbandry behaviors)
In addition to these ten behaviors, you can train many others! But you can also use targeting as a management tool! When trained correctly, targeting is a great tool to use when you need to get your dog to come to you fast, relax when it is stressed, calm down when it is getting out of control due to excitement, remain in one location while you do something like load or unload the car, clip on a leash, make dinner, and much more!
Closing Thoughts
I believe targeting is essential to having a well-trained dog! I have seen targeting used with many kinds of animals in many kinds of situations to solve many kinds of problems! It is a great tool and a skill that everyone needs to teach their dog! If you have questions on what you can use targeting for, click here , choose your membership level, and become a H.A.T.S. member today!
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