Your Dog's Verbal Cues And Hand Signals: How To Effectively Train Both #113
Oct 1, 2021
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Discover the power of physical cues for effective dog training, especially for those with hearing challenges. Learn how to avoid common mistakes and enhance your communication with your furry friend. Delve into why physical cues can outshine verbal commands and how to train your dog to respond to specific signals. Explore the process of generalizing behaviors before introducing cues, and pick up tips on using unique prompts like finger points. Plus, uncover creative verbal cues and techniques for reinforcing desired actions!
Physical cues are vital for training dogs, especially for those with hearing loss, ensuring clear communication throughout their lives.
Successfully integrating physical and verbal cues requires a structured approach, helping dogs understand commands without causing confusion.
Deep dives
Understanding Physical Cues
Physical cues are essential for effectively communicating with dogs, especially when verbal cues may not suffice. These cues can involve hand motions or body movements that clearly prompt desired behaviors, but frequently, dog owners combine verbal commands with physical cues unintentionally. For example, when using a treat to lure a dog into a 'sit' position, the action of moving the treat may overshadow the verbal command. This can result in confusion for the dog, hindering their ability to recognize and respond to the verbal cue alone.
Benefits of Teaching Physical Cues
Teaching physical cues becomes increasingly important as dogs age, as many may lose their hearing over time. It's vital to provide dogs with a set of physical cues to ensure effective communication, particularly for breeds prone to deafness at a young age. Additionally, physical cues can facilitate training in dog sports, such as agility, where clear communication is crucial for performance. By integrating more physical cues as dogs age, handlers can maintain a strong connection and understanding with their pets.
The Process of Cue Training
The training process for physical cues involves establishing a stimulus that prompts a behavior, which is then reinforced. A practical method is to create a 'hot zone' by using a blanket or a specific location to encourage desired behaviors, followed by a reward once the dog performs the action. Transitioning from a purely physical cue to incorporating a verbal cue can be achieved by ensuring the dog first associates the action with the physical cue before gradually adding the verbal command. This method fosters confident understanding in the dog, allowing for successful training without redundancy or confusion.
1.
Mastering Physical Cues for Effective Dog Training
Sit, down and come are three cues many people use to prompt their dogs to do something. But what happens when your dog can’t hear those words? They might be a distance away or have hearing loss. Enter the physical cue! People can really mess up their hand signals when training their dog, but physical cues can be easy to teach once you know the process.
In the episode you'll hear:
• What a physical cue is and how the training can get messed up. • How physical cues overpower verbal cues. • Why we want our dogs to have some physical cues. • How stimulus creates behaviour and reinforcement sees behavior repeated. • How to train your dog to go to a mat or bed. • About generalizing a behaviour before adding the cue. • When and how to add a cue for your dog. • How I use a finger point as one of my physical cues. • The reason I use "hop it up" for a verbal cue. • Why to remember "new cue, old cue". • The physical cue to use for your dog coming when called. • How to test the cues that you use now for your dog. • Why I don't have a verbal cue for a hand touch.
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