By Deborah Jones, Ph.D.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of fun and useful applications for the Pet Tutor<\/a>. \u00a0One of my favorites to teach is targeting. A target is an object that your animal moves towards and touches with a body part. \u00a0The reasons for teaching targeting are many. <\/p>\n As with all training, it is good for your dog\u2019s brain. \u00a0The more appropriate cognitive activities we give them, the happier they are. \u00a0If your animal has satisfied his needs for interesting and fun mental work, then he is going to more easily settle down and relax. \u00a0And happy relaxed animals make for happy relaxed owners. <\/p>\n Neuroscientist Jaak Panskepp has hypothesized that animals possess what he has termed the \u2018seeking system\u2019. \u00a0This system motivates us to seek out interesting and enjoyable activities of all sorts. It is part of the natural desire to avoid boredom and pursue pleasurable experiences. \u00a0If we don\u2019t provide activities that satisfy this desire to seek, then our animals are likely to take things into their own paws, hooves, claws, and so on\u2026 and we probably won\u2019t be happy with their choices. \u00a0So we would be wise to provide activities that fulfill this need. Targeting is a way to provide a number of interesting and fun options for your animal. <\/p>\n Once I have introduced my animal to the feeder<\/a> then I like to move to targeting as a way to keep their focus off the food location and move it onto what he is doing to cause the food to be released. \u00a0Becoming too focused on the feeder can lead to undesirable behaviors such as treating the feeder like a large puzzle toy or simply fixating on it and not trying new things. Instead, we want them to understand that the food comes from the feeder, but the things you do away from it are what cause it to be released. \u00a0<\/p>\n The following videos show the first session of introducing the target and the Pet Tutor together. \u00a0Some of the dogs have had experience with both separately. They are also different ages with different levels of overall training history. \u00a0It\u2019s always interesting to me to do a compare and contrast when looking at how different animals respond and learn the same task. I hope you find it interesting as well. It\u2019s likely that at least one of these dogs may react in similar ways to yours. \u00a0Remember, all dogs present their own unique training challenges. <\/p>\n First up is Pixel, who just turned one. He has the least experience with both the Pet Tutor<\/a> and with targeting. He\u2019s been introduced to the feeder and took to it very quickly. As a puppy, he was also introduced to hand targeting (touching the palm of my hand with his nose). In this session, he\u2019s learning about the target stick for the first time. He\u2019s also learning that he needs to do something (turn away from the feeder and touch the target) in order for the treats to be released. By the end of the session, he had a pretty good behavior loop going \u2014 touch target, turn back to the feeder, get cookies, turn back to target, and so on.<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.smartanimaltraining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/target.png\")
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