Description
Cues, signals, stimulus, prompts are an integral part of our teaching, training and living with dogs. Understanding how the cues are part of the environment and represent opportunities for reward brings an entire new world to the building of behaviours. Giving a cue and responding to a cue is a conversation where questions are asked and answered. We give cues and the dog can answer, dog will also give us cues and we need to listen. Being able to have a conversation is a skill we can learn, develop and ensure all parties are enjoying the process without any stress or anxieties.
This weekend will cover:
- Teaching and practising Cue Seeking.
- Building discrimination skills in your learner.
- Thoughtful development of cues that can lead to an ease of generalisation.
- Using teaching cues during the learning process that graduate to life, or performance, cues.
Changing cues is a concept that dogs grasp with ease when taught with clarity and understanding. We shall teach dogs to be able to say “I do not remember that word”, and never feel the pressure to fill the silence with something. Learning to discriminate between what is relevant and what is not, making decisions about what to respond to can help your dog when the environment is calling them to respond in many different ways.
Advanced cues can be used to build complex behaviours, function as markers, change the way a behaviour is carried out (slower, faster, longer) and be used at the conceptual level.
Participating with your dog
Participants for this weekend should be Training Geeks – happy to think and talk about training even when they are not training. Dogs suitable for participating should have some behaviours on training cues, be familiar with high level reinforcement, and comfortable working in room with other dogs. The workshop is limited to 10 participants.
Learning by Watching
You may attend as a spectator and your dog may attend if it is comfortable resting in the car during the workshop. You are likely to learn just as much as participants without the anxieties of participating. Use the coupon code “watch” at the checkout for a 40% spectator discount.
