Target Training

Overview

Objectives/Goals Target Training is a training method used on dolphins and I wanted to see if it would work on dogs too. The goal of the training was to get the dogs to touch their nose to the target and also to keep it there until they hear the clicker, which is their reward! Methods/Materials I spend five minutes three times for three days teaching my Black Lab and German Shepherd (they were my independent variables) that when they turned their head from a bag of food, they would hear a click, which was their reward. By the end of the phase the dogs associated the clicker to mean that they did the action correctly. The click was their reward. Then, spending the same amount of time, I taught each dog to touch his nose to the hand-held target every time I said #target#, then clicked for the reward. This lets the dogs associate the word target to mean touch the target and the click is their reward. Now it was time to teach the dogs to touch and keep their nose to the stationary target. When they heard a click, which was their reward and release! / Two dogs A clicker A hand-held target A stationary target A small bag or fanny pack A box of small dog treats Results Both the dogs I tested my methods on supported my theory. The German Shepherd started learning at the beginning of each phase and excelled dramatically in each phase. The Black Lab was much more hyper and required patience. They both learned Target Training from the training methods used on dolphins. Through the Target Training, my subjects learned to hold their nose to the target when I tell them to and know that the clicker means they are done and did a good job! Conclusions/Discussion I have only done my tests on two subjects, so I am not in a position to confirm this training method on dogs, but from the subjects so far, I believe that this is a great training technique for dogs!

Competition history

• CSEF 2004 Behavioral Sciences · Entry S0306

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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