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F3013 The Cue Wars: May the best Signal Win!

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Karen A Vass-Deeds (Faculty)
Foundations

3 WEEK CLASS - Does your dog seem to “ignore” cues you know you taught? Do they respond beautifully at home but fall apart in new places? Or do they latch onto one part of a training setup and miss everything else?

Course Details

This 3week class dives into two powerful learning concepts — blocking and overshadowing which are both forms of cue competition but differ in when and why one of the cues fails to acquire meaning. This explains why dogs sometimes fail to learn new cues, struggle to generalize, or get “stuck” on the wrong part of the picture. You’ll learn how to prevent these common training roadblocks and set your dog up for clear, confident learning.

This class will help your dog tune out the noise and tune into you!

Great for pet dog owners, hobby trainers, dog sport competitors and anyone who wants to understand the science behind reliable behavior.

Teaching Approach:

I give each student a very personalized experience. I often will post lectures approximately every other day. My lectures are written and often contain videos for you to watch as examples of what TO DO and what NOT TO DO, especially for this class!

Syllabus

Since this is a new class, the curriculum is likely to be modified based on the challenges presented by the students!

WEEK ONE- OVERSHADOWING

  1. What is Overshadowing
  2. Examples of Overshadowing
  3. Specific Cue Challenges
    1. Identify more salient and/or weaker cues
  4. Salience & cue Competition
    1. In the home
    2. body Language
    3. Environmental
  5. Resolving cue Competition
    1. Crisp Verbal or Distinct Visual
    2. body Movement
    3. Immediate Reinforcement
  6. Add Competing Stimuli
    1. In doors
    2. Known Cues
    3. Gradual Distraction

WEEK TWO - BLOCKING

  1. What is blocking
  2. Examples of Blocking
  3. Specific New Cue Challenge
  4. Prediction Error
  5. Previous Learning History
  6. Prediction Error + Learning History

WEEK THREE - PUTTING IT TOGETHER - TRAINING HABITS THAT PREVENT BOTH

  1. New Cue before yo move
  2. Keep Body Still
  3. Fade New Cue Gradually
  4. Teach New Cues when dog is Focuses & Calm
  5. Reward dog for attempst at New Cue
  6. Avoid Repeating Cues
  7. Be Constent with Cues

Prerequisites & Supplies

Bring your goals and your challenges with your dog and stimulus control of cues. Be prepared to have a quiet place where you can then add gradual distractions. Lots of food, toys, and praise need to be available!!! Props like mats, targets, platforms, etc may be helpful as well!

Instructor

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Karen A Vass-Deeds

Faculty

Karen Deeds is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She is the co-owner of Canine Connection with her husband Bob Deeds, a retired Federal K9 Handler from Texas Task Force I. In 2023...

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