I've been trying over the past year to find something for Domino to do that isn't too strenuous on his remaining legs. But apparently a 2yr old Australian Shepherd can't be worn out that easy lol. We even went through a 6 week nose work class, which he hated. 

A few week ago at work, we were having a staff meeting about handling dangerous/aggressive animals and we watched a video from Dr. Sophia Yin. I noticed in her video that with her personal animals and some client animals that she was using a target. I've seen trainers use targets before and I guess I always thought that my dogs weren't well trained enough to do something like that lol. 

I broke down and made a simple target, nothing fancy and it cost me about $2 to make. I bought a small dowel rod, and on one end I attached a small rubber ball (a tennis ball could be used, but Domino is way too into tennis balls), on the other end I made myself a handle and attached a clicker (I'll try to get pics later today). I started gradually with him and slowly worked up to where we are now, but he absolutely loves his touch games!! Usually by the end of our session he is panting and wants to lay down! We do simple things like touching the ball at different heights and angles, and more difficult stuff like touching the ball over furniture and on light switches. I think our next step will be to buy the Fit Paws targets to teach him to go to place all around the house. 

We work with the target once a day, and it seems to do the trick. I guess my Domino is much smarter than I gave him credit for 😉

Cassie and Domino