{"id":1499,"date":"2012-08-29T10:50:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T00:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:39:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:09:13","slug":"put-your-problem-on-cue-dunbar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/dog-training-dog-behaviour\/put-your-problem-on-cue-dunbar\/","title":{"rendered":"Put your Problem on Cue (Dunbar)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See\u00a0index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

Dunbar advocates putting the 8 big behavioural problems on cue, and then training the opposite.\u00a0 The idea is that you can cue the \u2018opposite\u2019 (non-problematic) behaviour when the dog is displaying the problem behaviour.\u00a0 The problem behaviour should be taught first, as he thinks dogs are more likely to display \u2018the most recently taught\u2019 behaviour.\u00a0 These 8 behaviour problems, and their opposites, are:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>

“Settle down” – a useful behaviour to cue dogs to perform when they’re jazzed up or over enthused.<\/p><\/div>\n

1. Jazz Up \/ Settle Down<\/span><\/p>\n

Often dogs can be over excited, over stimulated, or generally \u2018worked up\u2019 and this can be problematic for owners.\u00a0 For this reason it is useful to have a \u2018settle down\u2019 cue, but Dunbar of course suggests that you teach the opposite, too \u2013 a \u2018jazz up\u2019 cue.\u00a0 You could turn this into a class game where the winner is the person who settles down their dog the fastest, or meets a 3 second deadline.\u00a0 Teaching a dog to \u2018jazz up\u2019 is also easy, and often inspires and motivates class members to train.<\/p>\n

\u2018Settle down\u2019 is useful when trying to prevent problematic behaviours, such as excitement at the front door, or fence-fighting behaviour.\u00a0 \u2018Jazz up\u2019 could also, potentially, be useful reward in the obedience ring.\u00a0 Diane Baumann, in her traditional training book Beyond Basic Obedience<\/em><\/a>, encourages owners to have an exciting cue (like \u2018jazz up\u2019) to mean an exercise is finished.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Woof \/ Shush<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunbar went through a long description of teaching his malamute to \u2018shush\u2019 through repetitive reinstruction<\/a>.\u00a0 Basically, he told his dog to \u2018shush\u2019 and \u2018good boyed\u2019 him when he was quiet, and \u2018shush\u2019 again if he continued to bark.\u00a0 Dunbar also advocated sin binning and removal from the stimulus causing barking to help reduce barking.\u00a0 Teaching a dog to bark on cue allows the dog opportunities to display their natural behaviour of barking, when you decide it\u2019s appropriate.\u00a0 I will explain \u2018fixing barking problems\u2019 in more detail in a later post.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Hug (jump up) \/ Sit<\/span><\/p>\n

Owners often have problems with dogs jumping up, and Dunbar believes that sit is the opposite.\u00a0 Dogs often are punished for jumping up, but controlled hugs are fun and enjoyable for both parties.\u00a0 Dunbar encourages a default behaviour of a sit be taught for greetings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. Pull on leash \/ Walk nicely on leash<\/span><\/p>\n

Many dog owners have problems with their dog pulling on leash and, again, Dunbar suggests training \u2018pull on leash\u2019 as well as \u2018walk nicely on leash\u2019.\u00a0 He does explain that sometimes pulling on leash is hard to train, but can normally be obtained with a lure<\/a>.\u00a0 This pulling on leash can act as a reward, as many dogs do enjoy pulling on leash.<\/p>\n

(On a personal note, I don\u2019t think I would advocate teaching a dog to pull on leash unless they were already practicing the behaviour. I think pulling on leash, if the dog hasn\u2019t figured out how to do it, is probably a blessing!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. Take it \/ Let Go<\/span><\/p>\n

I think this is one of the most important lessons for dogs, and is the first behaviour I teach puppies.\u00a0 That is, training puppies to \u2018grab something\u2019 and also \u2018let go\u2019 on cue.\u00a0 I use \u201cGet it\u201d and \u201cGive\u201d, Dunbar suggests \u201cTake it\u201d and \u201cThank-you\u201d.\u00a0 Regardless, I think this is a crucial skill. (You can see me teaching this to 6 week old Myrtle<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. Go Slower \/ Go Faster<\/span><\/p>\n

I am not quite sure why Dunbar thinks a dog going slow or fast is a problem.\u00a0 My only suggestion is potentially in the house if over-exuberance could lead to knocked over items, or similar settings.\u00a0 Regardless, he advocates teaching \u2018slow\u2019 and \u2018fast\u2019 by walking slower and faster with the dog, and allowing them to associate the word with the pace. (In this scenario, the lure is the person.)\u00a0 He suggested that \u2018slow\u2019\/\u2019fast\u2019 may be useful for heelwork (instructing the dog to speed up or slow down) or for slowing a fast dog down on agility contacts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. Runaway \/ Come<\/span><\/p>\n

Many owners have problems with their dogs running away and not coming back.\u00a0 Dunbar suggests teaching dogs to run away on cue, and the \u201cMurphy\u2019s law\u201d is that this will improve your recall and attraction to you.\u00a0 One way in which to teach running away is to chase the dog (provided the dog enjoys being chased!).\u00a0 Again, this behaviour of running away could be used as a reward.\u00a0 Dunbar also detailed tips on improving off leash reliability<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. Look away \/ Pay attention<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunbar explained that this was a \u2018new one\u2019, in that he has only recently added it to his list of problem behaviours.\u00a0 I like his willingness to change things as he goes!\u00a0 So many owners have trouble with their dogs not paying attention, so Dunbar suggests training look away and pay attention. Both behaviours are very useful.\u00a0 Looking away can form foundations for the \u201cLook At That!<\/a>\u201d game (from the book Controlled Unleashed<\/a><\/em>), but looking away is also a calming signal<\/a> and could be useful in diffusing tense dog-dog situations.\u00a0 Then, paying attention is obviously useful when cuing behaviours and when undertaking formal training exercises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another benefit of putting problematic behaviours on cue is that they are potentially made less rewarding.\u00a0 That is, if a dog learns to \u201cwoof\u201d when cued and receive a reward, but then woofs uncued and gets no reward, the dog is effectively learning to put the behaviour under stimulus control due to the reward schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You could embrace your problem behaviours, like jumping up and running away, by putting them on cue. Read more about why Dunbar advocates putting problem behaviours on cue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[184,183,472,12,164,11,477,476,376,375,475,478,479,474,447,473,53],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-training-dog-behaviour","tag-bark","tag-barking","tag-behavioural-problems","tag-dog","tag-dog-training","tag-dogs","tag-dr-dunbar","tag-dr-ian-dunbar","tag-dunbar","tag-ian-dunbar","tag-jumping-up","tag-leash","tag-leash-walking","tag-settle","tag-sit","tag-trainer","tag-training"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4972,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions\/4972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}