Instructors, trainers, and pet parents want compliance. They want their dog to respond to “commands” accurately and quickly.  When that doesn't happen, it can be incredibly frustrating.

People often attribute a dog’s failures to respond to dominance, stupidity, or most often, stubbornness. It’s more likely that these mistakes result from confusion (or insufficient motivation). The dog doesn’t know what the trainer wants because the cues are unfamiliar, the cues are inconsistent, or the cues are unclear. 

Understanding the basic science of cueing will help you improve your dog's reliability.  By being thoughtful about the process by which you choose a cue, add a cue, change a cue, and maintain cues, you will improve your dog's responses. You will be able to minimize the amount of static in the signals you send your dog and providing a clearer channel of communication. An understanding of behavioral cues will also pave the way for the creation of conceptual cues that go beyond eliciting simple movements.

This hands-on workshop combines lecture, video examples and several exercises with your dog (or watching working teams work). It will walk you through the steps to build strong meaningful cues whether you are a pet-dog instructor, competition- or working-dog trainer, or an owner who wants a more reliable and responsive dog.