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The everyday cues, one small step at a time
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These are the cues most owners start with, written as short steps you can run in a kitchen with a pocket of small treats. Each guide describes a lure or a capture, when to pay, and when to add the word, along with how trainers split a cue into smaller pieces when a step is not landing. You will find name, sit, down, stay, wait at the door, leave it, a hand touch, place, a chin rest, ringing a bell and backing up. If you are starting from zero, begin with how to teach a dog to sit.
All Basic Cues posts
12 posts, newest first. See every post.
A bell by the door, rung by a nose and answered
How to teach a dog to ring a bell: move a hand touch onto the bell, pay each ring, then hang it by the door and answer it.
Back up, one paid step at a time in a narrow lane
How to teach a dog to back up: in a narrow lane, pay one backward step with the treat low at the chest, then add steps and the word.
Chin rest, a head laid down and paid while it stays
How to teach a dog a chin rest: pay a chin that lands on your palm or a towel, add one beat at a time, and treat a lifted head as a pause.
Hand targeting, a nose bump paid from the other hand
How to teach a dog to touch: an empty palm, pay the nose bump from the other hand, move the palm, then add the word.
Name, look, treat: a first game to play at home
How to teach a dog its name with small treats: say the name once, pay the instant the dog looks, and move the game to busier places slowly.
Place, one mat your dog goes to and stays on
How to teach a dog place: pay four paws on one mat, then a down there, deliver every treat to the mat, then add distance.
Sit, taught with a slow hand and a small piece
How to teach a dog to sit: a slow treat lure up and back, paying as the rear lands, then the word, then an empty hand.
Stand, four feet up and still, from a sit or a down
How to teach a dog to stand: a level lure forward from a sit, then from a down, then sit, down and stand mixed in one game.
Stay, built one second and one step at a time
How to teach a dog to stay: a release word, pay in place, then grow time, distance and distraction one at a time.
Teaching leave it, one closed hand at a time
How to teach leave it with treats: a closed fist the dog cannot open, a better treat from the other hand, then the word and the floor.
The down, from the nose to the floor in one line
How to teach a dog to lay down: from a sit, the treat goes straight down and out along the floor, and pays between the paws.
Wait, a short pause at the door before going through
How to teach a dog to wait at the door: open it a crack, close it gently if your dog moves, pay stillness inside, then go through.