Moving from Capture to Cue

When you capture a specific behavior your dog offers with a click/treat or a "yes!"/treat, you increase the chance of your dog offering that behavior again. Why? Because it is advantageous for your dog to repeat behaviors that are paired with rewards. All animals' brains are wired this way. After all, if an individual is neurologically motivated to repeat rewarded behaviors, that individual will be more likely to age to sexual maturity, breed, and continue their genetic line. Animals want to do things that work.

So, if your dog putting their heinie on the ground is marked and paired with a delicious treat, their brain will subconsciously encourage them to do that behavior again.

At first, your dog won't even be aware that they are subconsciously motivated to repeat a specific behavior. Your dog will instead just... start doing it more. Eventually, though, your dog will consciously figure out that intentionally offering a specific behavior earns them a reward.

This "lightbulb" moment is really fun to watch. It's amazing when it dawns on an animal that they have control over their environment. "Put my butt on the ground and I get a piece of dehydrated venison?!" they think. "Well hot damn, that's awesome, I am going to sit again and again and again and again."

At this point (and only at this point!), you can start pairing a specific cue with the action of the behavior. In other words, say the word "sit" right before your dog sits. If you do this successfully between 30 to 50 times over the course of a day or two, your dog will understand that the word you keep saying before they does a specific behavior is the cue for the behavior.

✔️  Keep in Mind

The most common mistake people make is trying to add the cue too early. It's important to remember that dogs do not naturally know what the sound "sit" means when it comes out of a human's mouth. Saying "sit" to a dog who is not sitting will only pair the word "sit" with the behavior of... whatever it is the dog happens to be doing at the time. Instead, say "sit" when you are willing to bet $50 that your dog is going to immediately perform the behavior regardless of anything you say or do. Be sure to wait until your dog is enthusiastically offering the behavior over and over again before thinking about adding in a cue word/signal.

Another common mistake is for a human to repeat the cue multiple times before a dog offers the behavior. The goal, though, is to teach your dog that the word "sit" means putting their butt on the ground... and not the word "sitsitsitsitsit." Say the word once, wait for the behavior, and click/treat or "yes!"/treat. If the dog doesn't offer the behavior, darn it, you just lost $50. Take a step back in training by getting the behavior on a reliable repeat before trying to add the cue again.

Tip! When giving your dog a treat for an anchoring behavior like "sit" or "down," toss the treat away from them so that they have to get up to get it. This works as a kind of "reset" button, allowing you to get easy repetitions of the behavior.