Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast E475: Karen Deeds - "When Cues Conflict"
Aug 29, 2026
Karen Deeds, certified behavior consultant and instructor, explains how cues can conflict in training and why clarity matters. She covers cue types beyond words, overshadowing versus blocking, signs of competing cues, and practical steps to re-teach behaviors and generalize cues across contexts.
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Cue Means More Than A Word
- A cue is any stimulus that elicits a response, not just a spoken word.
- Karen Deeds lists verbal, visual, tactile and environmental cues and warns environments often become accidental cues.
Overshadowing Happens During Learning
- Overshadowing happens during learning when a more salient stimulus prevents the dog associating the intended cue with the behavior.
- Karen gives the common example of a hand in the bait bag or delivering food at the same time as the marker hiding the spoken cue.
Blocking Appears After Learning
- Blocking is when an already-learned cue prevents a new cue from being learned or responded to after training.
- Karen describes training verbal sit so strongly that introducing hand signals later fails due to the established verbal cue.