Welcome back to Trick Tuesday - every Tuesday, a NEW trick tutorial!!
Today, we will teach you how to master a hand target. Hand targets are the beginning of teaching your dog to target to objects.
We can quickly turn this into motion towards other objects. Once your dog understands how to target to a small piece of plastic, for example, you can then make your target command mobile and start to teach your dog to turn off light switches or close doors - even blow bubbles in water. The sky is the limit!
Method: Capturing
Skill Level: Beginner
What you’ll need: Food, dog, conditioned reinforcer
In this video, we've used the hand target to teach a recall to a deaf dog. "Squishy" is a CKC Spaniel who was rehomed at 6 years of age. His new owner quickly realized something wasn't right and took him for a BAER (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response) test. He was diagnosed with complete bi-lateral absence of hearing. Time to think outside the box with his training!
Don't forget to check back every Tuesday for our next trick tutorial.
Enjoy!