Target Sticks

[MaryK]

Found one in Poland, of all places, free postage to Australia. Seems the clicker is kinda attached to the belt loop. Is that what I need???? It is retractable with a 14 -25cm length.

The product is called "Trixie' e-bayer doesn't have much feed back, just one, but it is positive.

• with clicker button
• retractable from 14–65 cm
• with nose-friendly ball
• belt clip with adjustable nylon cord
• suitable for dogs, cats, rabbits and birds
• incl. booklet with tips and tricks for designing optimum training

Registered Design

• colour: various

If the local shops are a no go will order from Poland!

 

[Jean Cote]

Here is a picture of the one I'm talking about:

I know that they sell in on eBay, you might want to try that too!

 

[MaryK]

Thank you so much Jean. Will try e-bay international, tried Australia before and come up with a big fat zero! Amazed they're not selling them over here on e-bay Australia.

Found them! Cost is higher though US $18.99
Approximately AU $18.37 Plus $11.22 shipping and something about Government/Customs duties on top of that (they're apparently not included in the postage or price) YIKES! The seller advises to check to find out how much these extra charges will be. Will have to do that in the morning. Will also check the local pet shops, I know they do not have on-line sites, so they may just have the Premier Clic Stik.

 

[Anneke]

Mary, Maybe you could see if you can find a telescope pen.
http://www.wedo.de/office_products/presentation/pointer_pens/files/683/236_2_frei_landscape.jpg
You can probably find one in an office supply store. This is how I first started out with a target stick. The top can be taken off and you can write with it But I glued a small ball on to it.
I don't have it anymore, I now use the one Jean posted.
But the pen was A LOT cheaper then the target stick.
And because it is a pen it is easy to put in your pocket or pouch. The targetstick is a lot bigger

 

[xena98]

yep I got one of those things that the teacher uses to point at things it goes long and than short however long you want it. Got a little cat ball that my friend had nailed and glued and than I taped the clicker on that. Works wonders still got it and its 5 years old now and is still going strong lol
Actually Mary Ray had one that had the clicker and also a little button that opened up the yellow ball which you put a treat in it so than you can reward the dog away from you

 

[Mutt]

ooh and I always hold the clicker and targetstick in one hand (without tape or anything ), which works fine for me.

 

[jackienmutts]

Be careful spending lots on a retractable click stick - I bought one, used it happily for a couple weeks, then one hard nudge from Alfie and it broke. All I was left with was something to hold in my hand. No more "stick". I didn't get one with the clicker, so couldn't even say well, at least I have a clicker left. Nope, I had nothing left but a useless toy, so into the trash it went. JMO, unless you can find one locally, or order one inexpensively (postage-wise), make one out of a thin dowel, anything you can point with. Heck, for now use a ruler, Rakins won't care, and it will get the point across.

 

[MaryK]

Mary, Maybe you could see if you can find a telescope pen.
http://www.wedo.de/office_products/presentation/pointer_pens/files/683/236_2_frei_landscape.jpg
You can probably find one in an office supply store. This is how I first started out with a target stick. The top can be taken off and you can write with it But I glued a small ball on to it.
I don't have it anymore, I now use the one Jean posted.
But the pen was A LOT cheaper then the target stick.
And because it is a pen it is easy to put in your pocket or pouch. The targetstick is a lot bigger

Thank you, will check out Office Works, they do have an online store. Appreciate the pic link, so I know what to look for. Am concerned about the cost, it's a lot for something like this.

 

[MaryK]

ooh and I always hold the clicker and targetstick in one hand (without tape or anything ), which works fine for me.

I always have the clicker and lead (on walks) in the one hand, so I shouldn't have any problems with a target stick/clicker combination. My clicker has a wrist band which makes it very easy to hold/click whatever else is happening.

 

[MaryK]

Be careful spending lots on a retractable click stick - I bought one, used it happily for a couple weeks, then one hard nudge from Alfie and it broke. All I was left with was something to hold in my hand. No more "stick". I didn't get one with the clicker, so couldn't even say well, at least I have a clicker left. Nope, I had nothing left but a useless toy, so into the trash it went. JMO, unless you can find one locally, or order one inexpensively (postage-wise), make one out of a thin dowel, anything you can point with. Heck, for now use a ruler, Rakins won't care, and it will get the point across.

Thank you Jackie. I was concerned about the cost, especially as I may also have to add government duty as well. Was going to work out to be a very expensive (for something made of plastic) exercise.

Rakins is a bit like Alf. He can make some pretty hefty jumps, especially LOL when he's got his soccer ball in his mouth (the 'destroyed' by Zeus ones). So that could easily happen to me! I'm looking at an old ruler right now (it's some sort of engineering thingee so doesn't mean anything ruler wise to me) so I'll use that. LOL Rakins won't mind in the least, especially if it's got something yummy on the end, or smeared on the end. He's not into the 'fashion stakes' just into having fun and learning new tricks

 

[SD&B]

I got one with my clicker, but the great thing about it is that the lenght is adjustable.
How I thought it: I put abit of cheese on the end and holded it near the dog, when they were about the eat it, I clicked and the cheese was the reward. They quickly got the idea that touching the end meant a click.

I have the same one!

Great idea about the cheese. I bet he'll touch that.

 

[SD&B]

Thank you Jackie. I was concerned about the cost, especially as I may also have to add government duty as well. Was going to work out to be a very expensive (for something made of plastic) exercise.

Rakins is a bit like Alf. He can make some pretty hefty jumps, especially LOL when he's got his soccer ball in his mouth (the 'destroyed' by Zeus ones). So that could easily happen to me! I'm looking at an old ruler right now (it's some sort of engineering thingee so doesn't mean anything ruler wise to me) so I'll use that. LOL Rakins won't mind in the least, especially if it's got something yummy on the end, or smeared on the end. He's not into the 'fashion stakes' just into having fun and learning new tricks

A great cheap target stick is a cat toy. The kind with feathers or whatnot on the end. Take off the feathers or what not and it's perfect. That was my first target stick.

 

[sara]

My dowel with the fuzzy ball taped on (clicker held in same hand) works just fine.... Just sayin'

 

[MaryK]

Thank you SD&B and Sara, both are great ideas . I used a ruler today because I had that already, and put some peanut butter (organic) on the end. Brother!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I need to know LOL how to STOP him targeting!!!!!!!!! And going 'boss-eyed'! He 'got it' immediately once the peanut butter taste and smell wafted before his nose. My only 'problem' now is when I put it done he races over to it - doesn't want to stop targeting! Gotta love 'em !

Will upgrade as soon as I can get to the shops to fuzzy balls and cat sticks, may actually have one around, not sure if I threw it out after the cats wrecked the feathers though

Affordable and if wrecked when Ra Kismet get's a little enthusiastic, no great expense to replace.

 

[jackienmutts]

I love all the ideas for target sticks, esp for new people reading who thinks one must go buy a costly 'official' target stick from a pet store or training site. Mary had also suggested somewhere back about using a birdcage perch, I thought that was a great idea too - any long 'stick' one can point with works. Dogs, being those incredibly non-judgmental characters they are, don't care where our 'training props' come from - they just like the action!

 

[MaryK]

I love all the ideas for target sticks, esp for new people reading who thinks one must go buy a costly 'official' target stick from a pet store or training site. Mary had also suggested somewhere back about using a birdcage perch, I thought that was a great idea too - any long 'stick' one can point with works. Dogs, being those incredibly non-judgmental characters they are, don't care where our 'training props' come from - they just like the action!

Yes I have some tree branches, sticks, which I use for the bird perch.

You're right Jackie, the dogs don't care at all about whether we've expensive equipment or sticks, gotta love their non-judgmental ways

LOL and yes a good supply of organic Peanut Butter too!

 

[CJSophie]

I have a 2 year old Jack Russell, she's about 8.5 lbs and about 15" in height. I just ordered a target stick and introduced it to her today. She caught on rather quickly and she knows to touch her nose on the end when I say touch. So she's fairly smart, she knows all of the basic tricks and recently we started learning names of her toys (she knows 2) and to put them away in her basket. I've been working on that for a few weeks now. However, I haven't been very successful in teaching her to heel, to back up or crawl. So I got the click target stick and some training treats and I want her to learn to ring a bell to go outside. So after she learned the target stick, I looped some bells on a ribbon and hung them on the door. When I tried luring her with the target stick to the bells, all she cares about is the target stick. She's not understanding that ringing the bells is the key. I know a lot of sites about target stick basics say that you can use the TS to transfer her to go get whatever you want but I'm not quite understanding how to get her to knowledge the bells and not the tip of the TS. I want to use the TS to get her to get certain items or go to a certain spot and I don't want to have to use a bunch of other items or teach her new ideas. Can someone ease tell me an easy way to take her focus off the TS and on to the item I'm wanting her to utilize. Or am I just doing it wrong? I followed the manual that came with the TS to a tee but I'm afraid I messed up somewhere along the line. Or maybe since today was the first day I used the TS that maybe she's just still interested in its newness. Also I couldn't find any guides on how to get her to keep her nose on the TS for a longer duration. It says in the manual to practice moving the TS, and getting her to hold for longer periods but she just touches it then looks at me for the reward. Basically, it's been a rough road getting her to hold for anything. I've almost got her staying dead when I point at her and say "bang" but that's only because once she rolls over I hold her there and then click. I hope someone can help me because I have high hopes for this little cookie.

 

[Jean Cote]

Hi CJSophie. Great post! However ... you might want to put in a few line breaks every now and then to make your posts easier to read.

 

[CJSophie]

Ok, thank you! I see that now that I look back at it, I didn't realize it was so long! I had to write it on my phone and the connection was slow. Thanks for the tip!

 

[CJSophie]

Ok, great news! I figured it out.

I kept looking online for solutions, and I came across a "sticky note" concept and also read that TS are mostly used for movement tricks. So I used a blue sticky note, introduced it in my hand, then on the wall under the bells, then on the door behind the bells, then made the note smaller then took it away and she was right on track! She now knows the command "ring" and to touch the bells.

However, would ring the bells out of her own valicion but I made sure to click and treat. Then I would say "do u have to go out?" The command "ring" once she rang them, I would open the door and let her out. I did this a few times but now I'm afraid she will use the bells just to go out.

Needless to say, she picked it up rather quickly without the TS. I just need to know if I'm correctly teaching her to relate the bells to having to use the bathroom. It's kind of hard to practice this because I'm not goin to be able to get her to potty each time if I do it consecutively.