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The Good Citizen Award
Check out the AKC website and click on Canine Good Citizen. There's a list of ten criteria a dog must pass for a CGC-- all are really just a matter of controlled goodmanners for most. In my area, the CGC evaluation is done at many of the local matches, shelter events, etc. The training center where I teach, does a 7-week CGC class with each dog tested at the conclusion of the course. AKC recognizes each passing dog with a nice certificate and, of course, you can use "CGC" after your dog's name as you would a title (the AKC website will explain that CGC isn't actually a title...). CGC is usually a precurser to trying for the Delta Society's TDI (Therapy Dog International),
which is typically required for therapy dog work.
Robyn S.
With Ruby, we use a hotel-style bell. The gist of the training is teaching "targeting". You teach the dog to "target" (i.e. touch) with its paw then you transfer the touch to the bell. First I taught her to "touch" with her paw (I actually taught her to "bump" with her nose first, but I don't think this is necessary to teach "touch"). I
used a long wooden dowel rod (and when THAT broke, used a plastic driveway reflector on a 3-4' stick, purchased at Home Depot for $2-3). I put the end of the target stick on the floor near her and moved it around to get her interested in it. Eventually, she tried to paw it and, when she did, click/treat. She quickly learned to paw
the target and I put it on the cue "touch". Then, I taught her to transfer the touch by putting the target stick on objects/places I wanted her to paw, cueing "touch", then moving the stick before she actually touched it, then C/T'ing when she touched the spot.
Pretty soon, you can point to something with your finger say "touch" and she will do it. Then, you go to your bell, point to it, say "touch" when she does, and it rings, you take her outside. She will quickly learn that ringing the bell gets her out. As the previous message mentioned (sorry I don't remember who wrote it), the downside to the bell, is ringing whenever they are in the mood to go out. But if your dog is old enough that you can pretty much tell when she needs to go, vs. just go out, you can ignore the bell when you know she doesn't need to go (assuming you don't want to take her out then). Ruby occasionally rings because she is bored (its actually kind of cute, sounds like the ice cream man is coming as she is working through her extinction bursts -- we just recently put the bell back out after not using in for a few months), but generally she isn't a pest about it.
Bob
Donna,
The end of the stick is normally where you would train your pup to touch so you can direct the dog very specifically to a particlar place or object. By "end" I mean the last few inches of the side of the stick, not the tip. However, a side touch further down the stick can also be useful. I find it easier to lead the dog a longerdistance by holding the stick parallel to the floor and having the dog follow anywhere along the stick. This is easier over a long distance than insisting on the nose being near the end of the stick where it can "slip off" or end up off the end of the stick where it is not really following behind.
I would start training the dog to touch the tip, which usually is differentiated from the rest of the stick in some way: color, size, etc. In my experience, dogs "generalize" the stick very well. In other words, they will slide their noses down the stick when it makes sense to do so while still maintaining a focus on the tip when you want that.
BTW, if you have not already invested in a stick, I take a roll from the middle of a roll of paper towels and wrap a two inch wide piece of colored vinyl tape around the last two inches at one end. You can use other common objects as well, so I personally would not pay money for a target stick. Another thing I like about the paper towel roll is that it is hollow, and you can place a treat inside the end of the roll, and then when you wish to reward, you simply tilt the stick and let the treat fall out.
The easy way to get a dog started on the stick is to place a *tiny* dab of peanut butter or yogurt on the taped end. Meat baby food works well for me. First, train the dog to touch the last few inches of the stick while you hold the stick still and parallel to the floor. Then start varying where you hold the stick: in front of you, to the right side, left, high, low, perpendicular to the floor, diagonally, etc. It's important not to present the stick in the same position all
the time once you have the initial contact established. But always hold the stick at the same end.
The next step would be to start moving the stick and expecting the dog to follow. The nose need not be touching the stick--as long as the nose follows close behind it and "catches up" and touches at the end.
The other way to use the stick is, instead of leading, place the stick a ways away from the dog, where you want the dog to go, and work on getting the dog to close the distance and walk up to the stick and touch it. (You should still be holding the stick: don't set it down somewhere as a target.
So you have leading, where the dog moves with the stick, and distance
targeting where the dog walks over to you holding the stick. Again, the one rule I follow with a target stick, as opposed to other targets I will mention in a minute, is that while other types of targets can be "placed" somewhere--on the door, in a crate, etc., the stick should always be held by you and never planted somewhere. The dog should think of the stick as an extension of you, not a
separate object. When a dog is follow the stick, it is really following you! So avoid doing fancy acrobatics with the stick. It should be held naturally, extending from your hand in the way you would hold a pot handle, or with the knuckles of your fisted hand facing straight up or straight down.
Once you have established these behaviors, you can attach a command if you wish, but I personally do not. My dogs know if the stick is held out, it is their job to touch it, without any words from me. This also frees you to give other commands while using the stick.
All through the training, you reward for each touch of the stick. If you put some food on the stick, then that is the reward. If not, you hand or toss the dog a reward as a reinforcer. Work toward longer and longer contact with the stick. Duration is a skill to work on separately--expecting an eventual "stick stay" where the dog touches the stick with its nose and does not move until the stick moves or you release the dog. This allows you to practice still postures and work on improving them, like a Stay with head held high.
Once you have good compliance, fade the reward so you are only rewarding every second or third time, and work it up to maybe once out of 7-10 touches.
You now can use the "leading method" to cause the dog to execute motions, like doing a walk-around heel where it approaches you, circles behind you, and then stops at your side. When leading with the stick, think of it as a leash! If you done had any leash training, you can duplicate most leash-enforced behaviors with the stick, only you are accomplishing the same goal in a more humane manner, without tugging at the poor dog's throat, and with the dog
chosong to follow rather than being forced to!
You can also use the stick as a stationary target to get the dog to go to a certain location or assume a certain position. For example, a front and center sit, with eyes looking up at you. You'll develop a sense for which method is best for any given goal.
Remember, anything can be a target. A Post-It! note stuck to the floor or placed in a crate can be a target once you train it as such. The stick is not always the best tool, so I would develop several targeting devices over time. My best targeter will target on my paper towel roll, a small plush bone, and a flat sticky 3 inch circle I have made out of vinyl tape. A ball or paper plate are other possibilities.
Remember to go back to rewarding every successful effort each time you start training a new skill, like a stationary target as opposed to a moving one, or a Post-It! note instead of the stick. Then gradually fade the reward for each.
Finally, if you end up working with a stationary target (not the stick), you will usually want to train the activity backwards. For example, if your goal is to get the dog onto a chair, place the target on the chair and start by having the dog, standing right bythe chair, jump onto the chair. Then back up a few feet, and so on, until you end by getting to the starting position. This technique is also often used with the target stick itself when training a long or complex series of connected behaviors, like going through weave poles. It is technically known as "backchaining." You start training the last step, and then work your way forward in the chain--but that's a subject for another post.
Good luck. Most dogs seem to like target sticks and take top them quickly.
Barry
Bob Bailey is the foremost trainer in the clicker field Hi!
We use targets for a lot of different things and in a lot of different activities. For us, the target means "go to a specific place and stay there until told to do something else" if on the ground, OR is up high, "Touch with your paw/nose then stay right where you are." In agility we use them to teach contacts and obstacle names. In obedience we've used it for everything from teaching the go out to heel position. In flyball we use it to teach our dogs to trigger the box, and for Kendrik (16 month olds today) we
even used it to get him to run back FASTER. In fact, Kendrik (trained with the clicker since day 1) learned the game of flyball utilizing the clicker and targets. Also for Kendrik, we used the target with clicker to teach him where he needed to place his feet during a free stack in the show ring, how to stand on the table, etc. Then there's other things like "go to x location" or even fun
stuff like, "close the door", "turn on the light", etc. With Kendrik I was having a hard time getting him to go out far to catch a frisbee. We taught him to go out to the target and catch the frisbee and now he starts running out on command. Targets have been great training tools for us.
Liz Carter
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