As a touch stick people usually use a 30-60 cm long stick (12-24 inc.). With the stick you can teach the dog to target any behavior anywhere you wish. Some people use a telescopic metal pointer but I made of mine from a chopstick - I attached a small piece of foam plastic to the other end (to mark the correct touching site). A metal stick is good because dogs do not like to chew metal. Although the material does not really matter once the dog has learned the meaning of the stick.

It is very important that you do not use the stick for any other purpose: do not throw this stick for the dog or do not allow the dog to play with it. It is important that the stick remains as a neutral item.
With the stick you can teach the dog to run forward, jump over a hurdle, heel in exactly correct position or touch anything. The first thing is to teach the dog to touch the stick (click and treat for this). When first introduced to the stick, the dog will most probably touch the stick with its nose out of curiosity. Reinforce touching immediately. Then little by little move the stick here and there, letting the dog touch it every time. You can also place the stick on the floor off of your hand. When you can be sure that the dog will touch the stick, add the cue "touch" immediately before the dog actually does it.

Once all this is working you can start using the stick in training. For example you can teach heeling. Hold the stick so that the dog does not reach to touch it and is "forced" to heel in the correct position - click and treat. Then you start fading the stick out by making the visible part of it shorter by hiding it until the dog cannot see it anymore but is actually heeling in the correct position even without it. Then you just add the cue "heel".

Clicker training

• Clicker training
• Conditioning
• Keeping contact
• First training session
• Principles of shaping
• Touch stick
• The word "wrong"
• Can you improve show behavior?
• Eliminating fears

Obedience

• Obedience