Chewie has been learning to touch her forehead to my hand!
This behavior is both fun and practical.
I wrote last week about nose targeting. Chewie knows how to touch her nose to lots and lots of different objects.
Nose targeting is the most common type of targeting. However, with positive reinforcement, animals can learn how to “target” many other body parts to an object or to a person’s hand.
For example, a horse could learn to step sideways and touch their hip to a person’s hand, which would be a “hip target.” Other body part targets could include a cheek, shoulder, or ear.
In this photo, my Arabian gelding, Apollo, is practicing a knee target. I hold out my hand. He lifts his leg and touches his knee to my hand. I used clicker training to teach him this behavior.
A knee target is a great behavior for teaching voluntary hoof care. It can also be used as part of a program to improve a horse’s balance, coordination, and muscle strength.
Why teach a forehead target?
My inspiration for this behavior comes from my friend, Cindy, who taught her young mule a forehead target. If someone held out a hand, Rosie the mule would come and touch her forehead to the person’s hand.
Here are some of the reasons why Chewie is learning a forehead target:
- It’s a fun behavior for both of us, and it was easy to teach, given Chewie’s current skill set.
- It’s a nice way to introduce Chewie to the idea of body part targets. She’s learning that there can be other types of targets, in addition to a nose target.
- It gives me another way to ask her to move forward or to reposition her, without having to use any force, pressure, or intimidation.
- It will be a fun behavior when she is interacting with new people, as it gives her something specific to do and the person something specific to do.
Forehead targeting with Chewie (video)
Here’s a short video clip from one of our recent training sessions. This video was from our third session working on this behavior.
The behavior isn’t perfect yet, but you’ll see that Chewie is catching on and that she understands the general concept!
I’m using scratches as a reinforcer for this behavior.
Have you taught your learner any body part targets?
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