Changing a Poisoned Cue

Luna is a crossover dog, and I'm a crossover trainer. It took a long time for me to really understand WHY it is so important not to use force or intimidation to get the behavior that I want, and I think part of that is that I have a very low 'base mood'. It takes very little to throw me off the deep end and cause frustration and anger. The no force pennies dropped in heaps about two years ago, and since then I've worked hard to teach myself new reflexes; teaching, guiding and using known +R cues to get and interrupt behavior, instead of reacting and adding pressure. 'HEY!' works especially well, and that's the one I struggle with most. It's out of my mouth before I'm even aware of it.

'No' was, as far as I can remember, never used as +P. I've always tried hard to use that word as information, a neutral no as Sue would say. I think, unknowingly, I've taught her that word as a Zen cue, or maybe it's a no reward marker ('that doesn't work, try something else'), but we can communicate very nicely with it. Just yesterday, on an off leash run with the bike, I used No and Good Girl to keep her out of the canal. If she got too close, intending to go in the water, I'd say No, Luna would turn away from the water, I'd say Good Girl and she'd keep going along the track.

It took me visiting other kids, a month ago I think, to realize that I was still using a +R/+P 'command' even though I now treated it as a cue, a request. That command is Sit. Luna was interacting with those kids, taking treats gently, laying down every time on the first or second cue, but she flat out refused to sit. Sure, she would sit as a default, but when the kids asked, she downed, offered other +R behaviors or just looked away. When I saw that, and I realized WHY she didn't respond, I immediately promised her that I would stop using Sit and teach her a new word, a REAL cue this time, to ask her to sit.

I started the next day on our morning walk; looked at her, waiting. Got the default sit, clicked that about 10 times. Then I said the cue as she sat; Assis. Another 10, 15 reps with the cue. Then we continued on our walk. Luna was off leash, and checked in frequently as she always does. Every now and then, when we had eye contact, I'd say Assis, and SHE SAT!!!

Sometimes I forget and still say Sit, but those slip-ups are less and less. Here's the real beauty of this new, clean cue; when I practiced Sits with her on off leash walks, she would often just stand still, or worse, she downed. And I couldn't figure out why. I now realize that she downs because she feels pressured, even though I haven't commanded her to sit in over 2 years. The new cue, Assis? It works like a charm. When I ask for a sit, even when she's off leash and not looking at me, she is 90% succesful; she sits, and she sits proudly. Chest out, ears forward, looking right at me. No more 'this worries me' downs or freezing in a stand. Even when I ask for a sit with the new cue before I throw a toy, a highly arousing situation, she nails the sit again and again. Yesterday she was looking -staring is a better term - at her favorite cat across the street. I stood behind her and quietly said Assis. Her butt went down immediately.

Yes, thank you very much, I finally understand the importance of cues instead of commands. We haven't visited the kids yet, but when we do, I'll be curious to see whether she'll sit for them on Assis.

Oh, just for completeness, this is what she used to do - besides standing or downing - when I said Sit; look away, drop her ears, lick her lips. Those signals I understood, so I tried to say Sit as softly and gently as I could. Over the years, those signals stopped, but the downs didn't, and I didn't realize until this year that those, too, were meant as 'I'm uncomfortable with that word'.

Sorry Luna!