Marking with a Finger Point

One of the things we like to do at Pawsitive Vybe is to use a finger point to mark behaviors.

The above video is a demonstration of the finger point mark. It’s real nice for keeping a dog’s focus on the handler and for silently marking behaviors. This is quite useful with multiple dogs because a verbal marker or click notifies all the dogs that there’s a cookie going down somewhere. A silent marker like a finger point allows the handler much more control and flexibility when communicating with multiple dogs.

Conditioning the Finger Point Mark

This is no different from conditioning the Positive Marker or the clicker. If you want to be boring, point and then feed the dog, pairing the finger point with a cookie — the point happens then comes the cookie. Just substitute pointing with the index finger for the click or verbal,”Yes!”

Attention (unsolicited eye contact) can also be marked with a finger point and reinforced with a cookie. This is the preferred method of charging a marker at Pawsitive Vybe.

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