The Targeting Tool
By far the best tool for teaching a dog to accept something new is targeting. Targeting involves teaching your dog to touch his nose to your hand. Once this behavior is built, you can then use it to teach your dog to touch other objects, move from one place to another, or meet new people.
The steps for teaching targeting are as follows:
Put a treat in your hand and when your dog sniffs your hand, click and treat.
Repeat this six times in a row with the treat in your hand.
Remove the treat from your hand and offer it to your dog — when he sniffs it click and treat.
Repeat this until your dog is pushing his nose into your hand with purpose.
Move your hand around and see if your dog will follow it to touch it for a click and treat.
Change your position so that you are sitting, standing, or kneeling.
Take it to a new location and practice it from the start.
Label the behavior “touch” when your dog is doing it reliably.
Transfer “touch” to another person by starting off with a treat in both of your hands.
Gradually increase the distance between you and your helper until your dog will run across a room to touch someone's hand.
Change positions so that your dog will touch hands regardless of the person's posture.
Transfer “touch” to an object by placing your hand closer and closer to the object you want your dog to touch.
Once your hand is on the object, withhold your click until your dog touches the object with his nose, then click and treat.
Gradually build up your dog's repertoire for touching anything you point to.
One of the best tools you will have for teaching your dog basic life skills is your clicker and treats. The clicker will be used throughout the process to mark progress toward your end goal. Since the clicker is an event marker, it emphasizes for the dog what is going right at the moment he is doing the behavior and is a powerful way to communicate that he has made the right choice.
Once your dog understands the “touch” command, you will have a useful tool for helping him to get over fears, make new experiences positive, and in general communicate to him that investigating the unknown is safe. Teaching your dog to target will help him get over his fears much more easily. Now you have a way to actually get him to discover that for himself.
