What is the purpose of teaching "target"

[SuzanneMartin]

My border collie jack russell terrier picked up on this pretty fast. What is the purpose of teaching this to her?

 

Thank you.

Suzanne

[JMFS]

Once they know target you can teach them all sorts of things, from practical to frivolous. I taught Gertrude how to open the baby gate for me when my hands are full, she also knows the difference between her bone, carrot, and duck toys. It's how I taught Momo to jump up. The idea there was to eventually get him to balance on his hind legs, but his arthritis settled in before we completed that training. Some people have taught their dogs to clean up their toys. Gertie rings a bell when she needs to go potty. Momo will give me a "kiss" (he punches me with his nose, lol). I Almost trained Mo to bring his bowl to me, but mostly he flips it up in the air or scoots it with his nose. They can be taught to push the handicap button if a door is equipped with one. It's largely up to the imagination because these guys can do so many things.

 

Border Collie / Jack Russell?! How on earth did That happen?! :D I'd love to see a picture of those two breeds mixed.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Target opens a world of possibilities! It is often used in service-dog training as dogs turn on things, pull stuff, grab things, it can be used to train a variety of brain games and tricks (play the piano, shell game, hot and cold etc.

 

Here you can see Einstein turning on a light:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-turn-on-a-light/

 

I also use hand targeting in behavior modification to create positive associations with people's hands, to distract a dog who is getting a bit anxious or to get a fearful dog to stop focusing on something on walks.