When do I add a cue/command?
One of the most often asked questions I get is “When can I add a cue?” (often described as “wouldn’t it be easier to just tell my dog what to do?”)
In regards to “When do I add a cue” the general guideline is when you can predict your dog will perform a behavior (90% of the time is a good predictor!) AND you love the way she is performing that behavior, then you can add a cue.
In regards to “wouldn’t it be easier to just tell my dog what to do?” there are some inherent problems with that method. It usually follows some pattern like this:
Dog’s don’t speak human. YOU may think you are telling your dog what to do, but they hear pops and buzzes and noises.
Humans get annoyed their dog doesn’t listen so they say the cue louder and louder and LOUDER (like the primates we are!)
Human uses a visual cue to help their dog out (like pointing, raising your hand, tapping) and dog recognizes that as “I’ll go check out what that moving hand is doing”.
Human thinks HEY! they DO know what to do.
Dog thinks HEY! that moving hand gave me a treat. I better investigate that moving hand with my snout!
Human stops yelling or frantically pointing so dog thinks YAHOO! that behavior got the crazy lady to stop shouting so I’ll do more of that behavior.
Human realizes that snouting the treat hand is NOT the behavior they want and gets annoyed again because the dog isn’t listening.
And around and around we go! Frustration increasing!!
There is ALSO the problem that if we tell our dog what to do (using cues and commands) then they do not develop their brain the develop a reliance on us and being told what to do - in EVERY situation! So we, as humans, need to train a cue/command for EVERY situation. All the time. And we must be present ALL. THE. TIME. or our dog will not know what to do. It’s impossible to train for that so we work on developing your dog’s brain through science backed training games and methods that are fun and interactive.
A Stranger in a Strange Land
The BEST analogy I can use for why I stay away from cues until you know your dog is going to perform a behavior is to think of yourself in a foreign land where you have NO IDEA of the cultural norms, the language or the direction you need to go.
And you’re naked.
If someone yells at you in a language you don’t understand, then yells louder and louder, you just become frustrated, scared, confused and want to hide.
If they start urgently pointing in a direction, you may think “OY! If I just go over there this will stop.” So you go the direction they are pointing. If the yelling stops, you think you had a success! But you still don’t know what you did to get to that success because then the next person starts wanting to touch you and they are yelling something different.
Did I mention you’re naked?
Back to Familiar Home (and adding cues)
So you get it. Cues, commands and human words are not the thing dogs inherently understand. But, they are helpful for us to communicate with our dogs once they already know what is expected.
But we’re humans so we’ll continue to use our voices and bodies in ways that dogs do not understand as our first line of communication. And we get to learn to do different if we want that buddy of our dreams.
Before adding a cue (which is saying anything out-loud or doing ANY body movement meant to give your dog a clue what your want) ask yourself two things:
Do I REALLY need to have a cue for this right now? Look to see if there are other environmental cues to help your dog know what to do like your body position, his body position, a wall to help him walk in a straight line, the presence of an object that they can be rewarded for exploring, etc.
Is my dog in the right place to listen? Look around at the environment you’re in. In other words, does your dog understand the CLEAR criteria of the behavior and can they stay focused in the current environment?
If you are a “NO” to either, then don’t worry about the actual cue yet and keep helping your dog strengthen their understanding of what you expect from them.
Dog’s do not generalize behaviors so each new environment may require you to re-introduce your expectations!
If both those are YES! then ask yourself one more questions…do they perform the behavior in a way you love? LOVE, not tolerate because you don’t know what else to do? Then add the cue!
Give Power to the Cue!
Whatever cue you use is 100% meaningless to the dog until you give it power. If your dog is performing the behavior in a way you love, then you wait for them to be about to offer the behavior, say your cue ONCE, quietly and nicely.
The way you give the cue POWER is that the dog must be able to attach a favorable, positive outcome to the behavior. This is called “Positive Reinforcement”.
If you’ve set your dog up for success, then it is just a few repetitions of the cue, performing a known behavior, followed by a reward and your dog will make the connection.
If your dog is sloppy at the behavior and you add a cue to early, you are merely reinforcing a sloppy behavior and attaching your sacred word (like SIT or STAY) to a behavior the dog sees as “put my butt on the floor and then jump” or “lay down until I desire a treat, then wander to find human treat machine”. When we do that, we have made a cue “irrelevant” and get to start over with a new word or action that is attached to the behavior we LOVE.
Say it ONCE and ONLY ONCE! I said…ONCE! Once. Once!
If your dog has had a lot of experience being reinforced for great behavior or performance in the past, introducing new cues is easier. You want your dog to learn that ONE cue prompts that response and great reward. Resist the temptation to repeat the cue. Have patience and let your dog work out what you want them to do. Follow the pattern.
Dog is about to offer the behavior.
Say the cue once.
Dog does the behavior (which they were about to do anyway)
Reward!
If they do NOT offer the behavior, be patient. If they choose any other activity or behavior, reset by walking somewhere else, walk a circle, say oopsie and toss a treat AWAY from you, then try again.
It will take practice and patience to have your dog perform the behavior whenever you ask, in any environment but it’s well worth the fun and practice.
Be a human worth listening to!
It’s about the relationship between you and your dog, not simply having a dog that listens to you because you demanded it. Be someone worth listening to! If you get angry or easily annoyed with your dog, yell or become physically or verbally dominating or are just really confusing to be around, your dog will start selectively listening and only perform the behaviors that consistently get him the good reward (like running to you when you open a bag of cheese!)
Make your dog a gambler
After your dog understands:
the behavior you want them to do,
clearly does the behavior in a way you love,
you’ve added a cue
they understand that cue means do this certain behavior AND
you’ve practiced that in a few different, low distraction environments with consistent rewards…
THEN you can start intermittent rewarding and turn them into a gambler. What does that mean?
Rather than rewarding your dog after EVERY cue/behavior combination, you start rewarding them intermittently - after every 2 times, then every time, then every 4 times, then every time, then back to every two times. Basically, help them learn they don’t ALWAYS get a reward, but it’s worth doing the behavior WHEN ASKED because the reward is worth the effort.
Just like when humans sit at a slot machine - we don’t know WHEN it’s going to pay off but it’s worth putting my nickels, quarters and dollars in because it MAY pay off huge sometime!
Have you tried cuing a behavior too early? Or having trouble getting your dog to do the behavior every time, in different settings? Let me know in the comments.
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