Cues: Part Deux
You now know a lot about getting behaviours and about cues. Putting behaviours on cue is called getting Stimulus Control. That means that when you give the cue (stimulus) you have some control over the outcome (dog will sit or do whatever you ask of him).
In order to have behaviours under Stimulus Control, there are a few things you need to first know. For a behaviour to be under Stimulus Control, you need to following to happen:
- Behaviour always occurs as soon as you present cue
- Behaviour never occurs in absence of cue (while training)
- Behaviour never occurs in response to another cue
- No other behaviour occurs in response to this cue
Before adding the cue, the behaviour must be exactly the way you want it to be. This means your dog shows a lot of fluency and motivation in performing the wanted behaviour. Only at this point should you put the behaviour on cue.
Once the dog responds reliably to the cue (let's say Sit), then you need to work on reinforcing the sit only when the dog is first presented with the cue. Here are the steps you would take to teach your dog to understand this concept:
1. C/T the Sit behaviour a few times
2. Say cue, then C/T the Sit behaviour a few times
3. Wait. Do nothing. Do not C/T when dog offers the sit
4. When dog pauses for an instant, say cue before dog offers, then C/T
5. Reinforce dog's brief hesitation/moment of waiting by giving cue at that instant OR by clicking and treating. (You are shaping the behaviour of "wait for cue")
6. After 1 minute, take a break! This is tiring for you and the dog
7. Repeat steps 1 through 6, alternating cue/no cue
After you have gone through these steps several times, the Sit behaviour should be on cue. The next step would be to teach the dog to discriminate the Sit cue from other cues. Let's assume your dog also knows how to Down and Stand and they are both on cue like the Sit. Teach your dog to discriminate between the three by asking the dog to do the following (C/T for every correct response)
Sit - Sit - Sit - Down - Down - Down - Stand - Stand - Stand
Sit - Down - Sit - Down - Sit - Stand - Down - Stand - Sit
As you teach new behaviours, group them together two, three or four at a time and teach signal discrimination with the above test. Once your dog can pick the cue out from other cues, you will finally have achieved Stimulus Control!!