Using A Target Stick

sara

Moderator
Staff member
I finally got around to making a target stick. I used a piece of dowling ans a fuzzy little ball stuck on the end (thought it would be nice on their noses LOL)

OMG!!!

I just had a clicker session with Oliver, Mouse and Boo and I need to share!

In one breakfast session (1 cup of kibble for Oliver, 1/2 cup for Mouse and 1/3 cup for Boo) they all learned to touch the ball with their noses, to follow it, and to reach for it.

Oliver went above and beyond though he learned to sit pretty (cue "rabbit") and to BOW!!! 2 things I've never taught him (having skipped the simple and moved onto the complicated... now I'm going back to simple LOL)

HOW EASY IS TEACHING BOW WITH THE TARGET STICK???! he never even put his butt down! LOL

I expect we'll have both behaviours on cue within the next few days LOL

So here's a question, what have you all taught using a target stick. I want ideas, I've never used one before!
 

Jean Cote

Administrator
Staff member
A target stick is awesome especially for little dogs. The one trick that the target stick helped me the most is with teaching my dog to crawl. I think it's saved my back. :)
 

fly30

Experienced Member
Great ! You seem to have much fun with your dogs Sara, it's lovely !

So I used the target stick to teach Fly to switch the light on (actually to teach her where to look, then I used my voice and my hand), and to turn around me.
 

sara

Moderator
Staff member
A target stick is awesome especially for little dogs. The one trick that the target stick helped me the most is with teaching my dog to crawl. I think it's saved my back. :)
Well I certainly have little dogs! Well, 4 outta 5 anyway LOL. I'm going to see what Zoe and Scout'll do with it later.

I had a second session with it, and had both Mouse and Boo sitting pretty, though Mouse already does it to hand signal, I wanted her to learn to follow it no matter what. Mouse didn't get the whole bow thing, but Boo got it, and was starting.

Mouse is such a little stinker, she gets soooo excited and just reacts, It's really hard to get her thinking. Boo, however is alot slower, but he constantly tries his favorite trick first, so I get paw ground, shoulder and head on ground pawing at nose, then finally he gets up and touches the stick LOL

I started working with Ollie following the stick away from me, to turn instead of just backing up... I'm going to need a longer stick for him though.

It's great for Mouse, however, as she is in such a bad habit of trying to climb on me while doing tricks, this is great at getting her away from me! lol
 

Anneke

Honored Member
I have used the targetstick to teach front(standing in front of me facing away from me), crawl(although I did teach it with luring first) and bow.
 
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