TARGET

* Videos to come *

We discussed how we incorporate Chutes and Ladders to teach Target.

USING Target: Level 1

to maneuver our dog

Teaching Target: Level 2

Divided into Steps

Step 1 Start with an enthusiastic nose-touch of your hand target

(Get the behavior, but DON'T use your nose-touch cue.)

Step 2 Put your hand target near a chair and keep working it

Step 3 Gradually move your hand target over the seat of the chair until he realizes he has to put at least on front paw on the seat to touch your hand.

Step 4 CLICK FOR HIS PAW TOUCHING THE CHAIR

Step 5 Pull your hand target away and give a treat

Jan and Nad work Steps 1 - 5

Step 6 Repeat this until he realizes he's being paid for touching the chair with his paw

Step 7 Start moving farther from the chair before sending him

Step 8 Reduce your hand target to a small motion toward the chair

Step 9 Work up to 5 feet from his first chair

(Chutes & Ladders for Distance)

Step 10 Cut back to right in front of a couch.

(Remember, when changing the behavior, make EVERYTHING else easier).

Step 11 Work up to 5 feet away in front of the couch

(Chutes & Ladders for Distance)

Step 12 Work on horizontal surfaces in other rooms

Step 13 Work your first chair

Step 14 Work your second chair

Step 15 Work 4 objects

Step 16 Work a wall and signal him to touch it

Step 17 Use your hand target up the wall if necessary, but realize the dog has to decide that touching the wall is what you want.

(Key words here: the dog has to decide)

Step 18 Click any motion of his paws toward the wall

Step 19 Once he's consistently hitting the wall, start working duration by 300-pecking it.

(Chutes & Ladders for Duration)

Step 20 Once he's staying long enough, begin utilizing chutes and ladders to increase duration

Step 21 If he comes off the wall, ignore it and wait for him to hit the wall again, C/T

Step 22 Begin duration again by using chutes and ladders; 1 sec C/T, 2 sec C/T etc.

Step 23 If he comes back off the wall, start back at one C/T, two C/T, building duration

Adding the Cue

Once he HAS some duration with the behavior; the cue is PAWS UP.

(So where is that? Somewhere between Step 22 and Step 23!)

Before Moving On (to Level 3)

When he is wall targeting and holding for 10 seconds, begin doing things while he's up there; put on his collar, brush him, etc.

By training Step by little Step, when we run into a problem, we can easily identify it and go back and re-teach.

And think how EASY it becomes to track our training progress.......

"This week we trained Target: L2: Steps 1 - 5". Whoopee!

Thanks, Karen, for again dividing this behavior into Steps for us.