Article Targeting

Heel to Toe, Footprint to Footprint, Article to Article

Article Targeting is a unique way to use operant conditioning to teach your dog to track using articles. Tracking articles actually become rewards for the dog and become an important part of tracking!

When the dog understands the reward in tracking and really craves it, he’ll transfer his energy and excitement into the behavior of tracking to earn the reward. You’ll learn how to transfer the energy into searching; heel to toe, footprint to footprint and article to article.

My dog is literally my best friend. Over time, that friendship is nurtured and developed through my tracking lessons. There is nothing finer in life, than a dog, who, through learning to track, has reached partnership status. If you’ve been looking for a great way to develop a better relationship with your dog, tracking with operant conditioning will magnify your bond!

There is no greater fun than being in a field in the early morning mist with no one around; just my dog and myself, quietly working out a track!

To preview the eBook, “Article Targeting,” click on the link, Article Targeting preview. To purchase the digital eBook, click here.

The first step is helping the dog understand the specific behavior that will lead him to the articles. He must understand that he is showing you where the footprints go. Many people start tracking laying long straight legs. This teaches the dog to walk along somewhat unfocused. Then the dog encounters the first turn, but the dog hasn’t learned that he’s following the footprints and teaching turns will be difficult.

Simply stop teaching turns and teach the dog to follow the footprints wherever they might go. This is easy to teach using food. As the dog reaches each footprint and piece of food, simply mark the correct behavior of finding the food through a marker of a click or “Good.”

One of the hardest concepts for the dog to understand is that he’s showing YOU where the footprints go. In the beginning, he won’t believe that you don’t know where the track goes. It’s your job as the coach and mentor to explain that concept in a way that the dog will understand. You must become an artist at dog language, both understanding what the dog is saying to you and speaking or communicating to him what you want. He’s listening, but you’re speaking Greek. In time, the dog will become very good at following the footprints.

One of the most difficult parts of tracking is removing food. Many people abandon the use of food for this reason. Rewards create a motivated, focused tracker. It’s the way that you remove the rewards that’s important. You don’t simply alternate food, no-food, food. It’s just as bad to remove the food for large portions of the track.

Remove the food a few footsteps at a time and watch how the dog reacts in the non-food area. It will take several sessions for him to understand that following the footsteps without food will lead him to footsteps with food. As he begins to understand following footprints without food, you can slowly increase the non-food area. With each increase of the non-food area, watch the dog’s body language carefully.

This is when Article Targeting becomes important. Teaching articles in a way that they become rewards is crucial as the food is removed. Without rewards, the dog will lose motivation to track.