Sunday, December 6, 2015

Viva learning to foot target - Part 2

In case you missed it, here's part 1 of Viva learning to foot target
 
 
We've been practicing each night and Viva says "Let's do this!"
 



She really loves this game and she's really good at it.




She makes me laugh as she's not moving off that pod since it pays so well!




I put my hand above the pod and she's not sure what I want - does she touch my hand with her nose (like "touch") or put her paw on my palm. I mark the behavior I'm after and then reinforce her for making that decision!




More working and I want her to put her paw on my palm, not on the side of the pod.  Good girl Viva!




I take away the pod and D'light is standing outside the gate which is distracting!
You can see Viva thinking throughout the video and she's a rock star. 




The next phase that we are just starting to work on is having Viva hold her paw in my palm with some duration and then I will add in touching her foot that is in my palm.  We will be working on this over the coming weeks!


 And you don't have to have a pod to teach a dog to target. You can use lots of different items like a plastic yogurt lid, the lid of any container and anything else you can think of.  Targeting is a great skill to teach any dog and it also can be added to the list of "how to provide enrichment in the cold and wet winter months".
 
 



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