Trick Of The Week 21/03-28/3/04

[whatevah]

Trick - Teach your dog to target your Hand/Target Stick

Uses - Can be used in heeling, used to teach more advanced tricks, such as closing doors, can be transferred to other objects such as target sticks, can be useful to teach your dog to go out to a certain object. Used in agility for contacts. I have also taught my sheep this trick and am working on the cats at the moment.

Equipment Needed - clicker and treats, can be done without clicker, but clicker is preferred.

Firstly charge up the clicker (this only needs to be done once for the dogs whole life, you do not need to do this everytime).

To charge it up, click then treat (in that order, just one click and one treat). Do this 50 times, the dog should now be aware that the click means food!! If your dog is not food motivated you can try click and toy, but food is preferred as it is quicker. You could try when dog is really hungry, before meal time. You can also charge up with a behaviour, watch dog, when dog turns head, click and treat, do this about 50 times. For more information on clicker go to these sites.

http://www.clickertraining.com/home/index.htm

http://www.k9events.com

Teach your dog to target.

Dog is off lead, in distraction free environment.

For little dogs you may need to place them on a couch, bed or table or some where where they feel comfortable and you can save your back or you could sit down on the floor. For medium/big dogs just leave them standing.

Step 1. Place two fingers (the ones next to the thumb on the same hand) in front of dogs nose, when dog sniffs nose, click and reward. Once dog has been rewarded, take fingers away from nose to set up for next trial. Very important to remember this part. If you are not using a clicker, you can try a reward word, such as Yes instead.

The reason for two fingers, is that this is a thing you rarely do with your hand, unless you are into saluting and it feels more comfortable than a fist, and you can point and target at the same time.

Step 2. Repeat several times. Then make it a little bit more difficult by slowly moving your two finger target around move it a couple of inches in front of the dog, at the side of the dog. The dog should start moving towards your fingers. When he does this you know he has the idea. Click and treat every nose touch.

Step 3. Now move the two finger target slightly over the dogs head, he should get up on two legs to try and touch your fingers. You could even try placing the finger target between your legs and see if he will follow.

Step 4. Add cue word "touch" just before showing the dog the target. If dog is progressing well go to step 5.

ADVANCED ONLY

Step 5. Do this step at least session 3. Dogs needs to have a strong grasp on "touch" before you attempt this. Put a small item in your hand such a cut out square piece of cardboard, photo frame, margarine lid, etc. Hold it in your hand and say touch. Do this about 10 times in different positions, each time clicking and treating for successes. Then put the target a very small distance from your hand and see if the dog will go and nose this target. Then gradually expand on where you place the target. Pretty soon dog will run out to target and back to you for treat. You can also put a target stick into your hand with the stick just sticking out slightly out of your hand, then gradually get the target stick further and further out, until it is fully extended. This will take a few steps. Once you have this try only clicking when the dog touches the end of the target stick.

Trouble Shooting - If the dog is not touching your fingers with his nose, you could try putting some treats in between your fingers. Also Make sure that dog is going towards the fingers, and not you taking the fingers to the dog. Make sure that you remove your fingers straight after the dog has touched them.

For quicker touches, remove fingers if dog is too slow, so he learns he only get rewarded for quick touches.

Edited March 23, 2004 by bigbum

[Tapferhund]

BIGBUM,

I'm stuck with this one. I have taught my bitch to 'touch' my hand from just in front to start with then slightly over her head ,next a little higher to make her reach.

At the moment she will reach up about 15cm from her head.

As soon as I put my hand about 8cm in front or to the side of her to vary positions, she seems to not understand what I want and keeps trying to wave.

My wave signal is totally different so it is not that.

How do I get her to 'target and 'touch' a longer distance from her face.

Her waves are quite frantic too, meaning constant and forced.

Would much appreciate your advise.

Thanks for the tricks on this forum too.

[helen]

Workingdog - you may need to go back a step, it is possible you have progressed too quickly if you have only been doing this since the trick was posted.

When she is better then start just moving your hand away slowly and a short distance from the dog.

With the waving she may just be trying out a behaviour that has earned a reward in the past to see if that will work this time.

[helen]

For show people - this trick is also a great way to lure you dog into the correct position to stack them rather than pulling/lifting/draging them to the right spot.

[Tapferhund]

Helen, thanks for your help.

I started teaching her this about 2 months ago, so was glad to see this trick posted.

Will try and go back a step.

[whatevah]

I agree with Helen, go back a couple of steps where the dog is successful and slowly increase the distance, try doing possibly 10 reps at each inch. Work on one side at a time. It may seem to take time, but will save you time in the long run. We try to set the dog up to succeed. Do a lot of reps at a small distance. Gradually increase. Don't rush. Check out the clicker site too.

Edited March 23, 2004 by bigbum

[alpha_numeric]

Brandy picked up 'touch fingers get a treat ' really quickly, she's amazing me how fast she is picking up new things now her confidence is increasing.

Danile was convinced for a while that he had to hold up his right paw then touch my hand but not fingers with the side of his nose, but he does it really well now paw up or down

I tried them with me in different positions to see if they definately knew what it was and they were great.

Will keep practising at this level for a few more sessions while I label the behaviour and then we'll move on to targetting an object.

[Clicking Mad]

They have this trick at my agility class (only intro) with Chester, but I must have been doing it earlier as all my dogs "touch" my hand. I have never thought to use the two finger method, it sounds like a better option, as Chester (who looks just like a baby bird with his mouth open waiting for the next feed) tends to give an open mouth touch, which I have effectively rectified by only clicking when his nose is touching and his mouth is closed.

My jumping Jamie girl touches my hand when I hold it straight out at my side, she loves that trick.

I just started trying with other things, like the "ring the bell" trick, only I have used a toy tamborine. Texas loves making lots of noise. I found this out when I also got a toy keyboard, no clicker, no treats, and placed it on the ground to see what they would do. Texas kept hammering it with his paws, making it go totally off, all I said was good boy, he's a little mad I think. He absolutely goes crazy for all these tricks, and loves using his paws.

I use the word "paws" when I want them to use their paws as opposed to their nose. I have done this with a towel initially (for Pets As Therapy training) and have moved to an ice cream lid. I'll sit and wait them, place the ice cream lid on the ground, about 10 meters away, then stand aside to make a triangle and point at the lid and say "paws". Chester and Texas are great with this trick, they touch the lid with their paws, it's more like a pounce, I click, and they coming running to me to retrieve their reward. I plan to expand out to "closing the door". I remember trying that earlier, a few months back, using my hand. Placing a postitnote over my hand, then moving the postitnote to the door. I probably progressed too quickly, but they did it a couple of time as I recall. They tended to want to use their paws rather than their nose, hence the "paws" trick.

The "touch" is also good for other tricks, it could work with the spin.

Off topic a little: bigbum, helen, you are on dog talk? I joined a couple of weeks ago. I posted 3 dog walk mayhem last week if you saw that? What names do you go by on dogtalk?

Sam.

[whatevah]

Alpha great to hear you are going so good. The more time spent at an easy level for the dog the better, it builds up confidence, and there is no need to rush. I have edited my original post to include target stick work.

Clicking Mad, great to hear about your success too. I have also taught my dog to close the door using his nose, and I did it first using a sticky note, but he ate it so I then shaped him. Firstly clicking for him looking at the door, then expanding on that. I also tried putting a little bit of mince on the door to encourage him to sniff it. I will posting how to do this trick in more detail in a future post.

I like your idea about the keyboard, I might try that. I am on dogtalk as Jules. I recently taught my dog to go out to a poof, and sit on it facing me and also give me a high five whilst sitting on it, I will also post how to do this in a future post. Thanx for your informative reply I am always after new ideas and tricks and we can all help each other.

[Clicking Mad]

A little off topic again:

I think I'll give the shaping a go with the "close the door" trick that sounds like it could work ... as long as I can do it right... I haven't really tried shaping much... except with the 101 box which I have left by the way side for the moment.

I'll let you know if I encounter any problems.

On shaping: I have successfully shaped my Texas into picking up things in the back yard but I don't use the clicker I just use "yes" and "no" as to the direction and the occassional "pick it up" so he understands that I want him to get something... it should be easier with the clicker.

The other day there was a plastic bag in the backyard floating around.. I pointed out toward it and said "Texas pick it up" and watched as he wondered around looking for what I was talking about... it took a while and I had to get a little closer to the plastic bag as it kept moving in the wind on me... but everytime he was near it or heading in the right direction "yes" etc.. then when he'd go into another area of the yard I'd say "no it's not over there" all very conversational really... he got it eventually and got a game with the tennis ball as a reward... great fun but hard work for me. I had to call him into me too as he got frustrated a couple of times. This was how I got him picking up the metal dog bowls.. all 3 of them.. one of them he has to flip up as it has nothing to hold on to otherwise... I have also tried telling him to go get the bowls while I have been sitting in the lounge room doing other things... that took ages... but of course he's pretty motivated.... and he got them all eventually I was in no hurry but I was surprised he got them as usually when doing this trick I am right there on the back step guiding him in the right direction... I think when I was inside I would hear the metal and just let him know that that was what I wanted. One day he decided it was dinner time and brought it to me by himself.. trust me I got the hint LOL.

Geez I have gone off on a tangent here haven't I? I like telling these anecdotes though.

Hope I didn't bore you too much.

Sam.

[whatevah]

Thanx Sam that was great to hear. The more you train your dog, the more you bond with him.

I am putting up the trick on closing doors next week. I wanted people to have a good handle on targetting first. I have 3 different methods for teaching close the door/drawer. At the moment I am teaching Moses to open a drawer.

[Cazza]

I have never thought to use the two finger method, it sounds like a better option, as Chester (who looks just like a baby bird with his mouth open waiting for the next feed) tends to give an open mouth touch, which I have effectively rectified by only clicking when his nose is touching and his mouth is closed.

I've got this problem right now. I'm trying to get him to keep his mouth closed, but even with my fingers 5cm away he wants to lick instead. Any tips?

[whatevah]

My flatcoated retriever does this, I found that raising my hand so it was closer to his nose worked a bit better, and when he found he only had to nose my finger, he picked up on it. Your dog could be trying too hard.

[Cazza]

Thanks TD. I discovered what works is to use a closed fist instead of open fingers. If I have open fingers, he wants to lick. A closed fist and he'll touch with his nose.

Now on to targetting objects...

[shoemonster]

Help!!!

How can I make the touch last longer, at the moment it is a quick nudge with the nose

How can I make the contact firmer (ie if I want use use the target stick to spin the dog etc)

Thanks

[Clicking Mad]

To make the touch last longer delay the click/reward ... by milliseconds at first ... then you can build on that.

And to make it firmer ... take an average of how hard he contacts ... then only reward the average strength or greater ... ie don't reward weak contacts

Hope that helps

Sam.

[shoemonster]

Thanks Sam - will try that