For Dexi this training is more problematic. Notice in the pictures he's oriented toward me, as he needs to look to see if he's going to be rewarded. Close by it's easy to get rewards in in an appropriate fashion. The problem is how to mark behavior at a distance for him, given that he's deaf. I looked at vibrating collars, but the smallest one is half his body weight, so that's clearly not an option. Lights to flash aren't salient in the bright sunlight that we occasionally see in the UK. I certainly don't want to teach him to look at me as he traverses equipment so what to do? I don't have an answer as yet, I'm hoping that by continuing to reward in close he'll have a good enough understanding to work at a distance with more of a delayed reward. I'm thinking that the Treat & Train (formerly MannersMinder) will be useful here and that a solid foundation will give him the understanding of why there's no reward out in front of him when he misses. For Darcey I throw the reward off to the side to make the training more exciting. Dexi says how about here? Dexi is not above barking at me to prompt me to reward, I find it very hard to withhold rewards from him. There's a lot of Shade to organize on a mat! This training has been very useful for improving his body awareness. Target training is useful simply for the portability of the target. it gives you the ability to start training dogs that aren't physically mature as there's no equipment for them to have difficulty with or to build unwanted associations with. July 17 | Clean Run 13