Does your dog leap forward to mouth your hand when you want to toss a treat, or step back anticipating a toy throw when you want them to take it out of your hand? Perhaps they seem “disappointed” when given a treat while you hold a toy in your other hand.

Reinforcement drives behaviors, right? Let’s make that reinforcement crystal clear for your dog by establishing specific marker cues for clean training loops. Imagine a verbal cue that clearly communicates what your dog is receiving and where and how to get it. And then another verbal cue that tells your dog the different thing they are getting and how to access it. There could be one cue for chasing a treat, another for taking a toy from your hand, yet another for chasing a toy, and one more for finding treats on the ground.

By teaching clarity in reinforcement cues, you can build behaviors with the appropriate arousal and movement that strengthen the behavior. No more struggling to maintain a calm, relaxed, down-stay while your dog expects the toy at any moment!

Moreover, you can use these marker cues to gauge your dog's focus in challenging environments. I like to test if my dog responds to their reinforcement cues before asking for complex sports behaviors or a recall around distractions.