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.

Resources:

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