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“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?”

Distress is minimized when there is both predictability and control. Help your dog understand what to do in specific situations by reinforcing that behavior in a timely way and also by giving a specific and clear cue for the situation.

There are more cues than just your words or hand signals. Your body language, the location, the odors, the equipment around, what you are wearing, all of that is part of the context for the dog. It all helps him know what kind of behavior you’re looking for in that particular situation.

When your dog offers the ‘wrong’ behavior, it may be because of an unclear signal. So maybe you have always said, “Sit” and moved your hand at the same time. In competition, you try saying only. “Sit,” and your dog does nothing. He’s not stubborn, it’s just that the word “sit” is not the signal your dog has been paying attention to; he’s been looking at your hand.

Similarly, if you reinforce multiple behaviors with the one cue, that’s also confusing, particularly when you are picky sometimes and other times generous. If you make your signals more reliable, your dog will be less confused and more responsive.

“WHAT WORKS HERE?”

As I mentioned earlier in this course and even in this lecture, controllability helps reduce stress and frustration. Knowing when something is out of your control, when no reinforcer is possible, for example, is also useful. That’s where our All Done cue comes in handy. It tells dogs when reinforcement is no longer available.

HOW TO ADD PREDICTABILITY TO YOUR DOG’S LIFE

Look at things from  your dog’s perspective this week. What things do you think she is not sure about, in terms of what is going to happen or what she should do?

• You just got up from the couch. Are you leaving the house? Going to the kitchen?
• Are we going for a walk?
• Or am I staying home?
• Am I going outside?
• Is it mealtime?
• For the love of Dog, when are you going to feed me?!
• Are you trying to escape through the bathroom or will you be coming back?
• Is it my bath time?
• Do I get to say hi to that dog this time or not?
• May I clean out that bowl?
• May I get up on the bed tonight?

Some of the times we can handle the predictability by just never having that event come to pass. For example, you could say that your dog will never get to greet other dogs when on leash or will never clean off your dinner plates. But if you are going to allow it some of the time and not others, help your dog out by giving her a crystal clear signal of when it will happen and when it won’t.

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