Category: Advanced Stuff ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Using a Target Stick ¤

   Suzy Wert (in another thread) asked about target sticks and what 
they are used for.
   There are SOOOOOO many ways you can use the concept of targeting, 
I hardly know where to start! But I think I can tell you where to 
start.
   No disrespect to the "official" Click & Treat target sticks, but 
they are too long for me. I use a telescoping pointer, which fits 
conveniently into my pocket. I've also used a length of dowelling, my 
finger, the dot from a laser pointer, a round plastic lid (like the 
ones on margarine tubs), a piece of tape, a piece of ribbon pinned to 
my pants... the list goes on and on!
   How I teach it: I start out with my finger. I've found that the 
vast majority of dogs will approach to sniff/bump a finger if I just 
hold it out to them. Click! What I want is for the dog to touch their 
nose to my finger.
   For the (very) rare dog that doesn't instantly investigate my 
finger, I stack the deck by using a tiny smear of peanut butter or 
cream cheese.
   Very quickly, the dog is touching their nose to my finger. Now I 
start moving my finger around. Side to side (an inch or two at a 
time) is easiest for the dog to figure out. Down is fairly easy. 
Depending on the dog, up can be quite difficult. I have noticed in 
other contexts that most dogs don't notice much that happens more 
than about two feet over their heads (without encouragement). 
Sometimes this is due to physical build, BTW.
   When the dog will move a foot or two in order to touch my finger, 
then I start transferring the concept to a target stick. I hold the 
target stick with my finger extended along the stick and then slowly, 
in tiny increments, ease the stick forward until the dog is touching 
the stick rather than my finger.
   Once the dog has the idea of touching the stick, I have in effect 
extended my arm. I practice moving the stick around until I can lead 
the dog through circles, figure 8's and serpentines with the stick.
   So what can I do with this? I can use the target stick to teach 
heeling, directed retrieving, go-outs, moving in all four directions 
(forward, right, left, back), going over agility obstacles, 
respecting the stick as a barrier (place it between us and click the 
dog when they stop moving towards me in order to touch the stick), 
etc etc etc.
   It's a VERY handy concept for a dog to have.

M. Shirley Chong
The Well Mannered Dog