Clean Run - October 2014 - 27

How Does It Happen?
There can be a number of reasons or ways that a cue has
become poisoned.
Environmental Factors
Sometimes something completely out of the handler's control
can be responsible for poisoning a previously well-loved cue.
Perhaps your dog has alw ays loved performing his weaves,
executing them quickly, perfectly, independently, and confidently. In fact, you may even go so far as t o say weaves are
one of his favorite obstacles. Then one day, while competing
at a local show, just as your dog enters the weaves, a nearby
barrier falls, causing such a c ommotion that he pops out of
the poles. For many dogs this c ould be an isola ted incident
that causes no further problems. But, for others, this incident
can turn out to be the beg inning of unforeseen challenges
ahead. The dog may now associate entering the poles with
the scary commotion, and it may take some time and training
to reverse this situation. In some extreme cases, this may be
difficult to ever completely overcome.
Unfortunately, a similar response can also be elicited by something minor; something that may even pass unnoticed by the
handler, making it ev en more frustrating for all c oncerned.
A Cue Taught with Negative Reinforcement
Usually, this happens without the handler being aware of the
effect that her training method is having on the dog. It can be

October 14 | Clean Run

as simple as the dog having been taught to lie down by being
pulled down on the leash. It would be easy to see how, if the
dog is really not happy or even has a bit of f ear associated
with the cue to lie down, this could begin to affect his performance on the table or at the start line, for example.
A Cue Taught Positively, But with an Occasional
Negative Handler Response
One of the most unfortunate ways for a mostly positive handler to poison an other wise perfectly good cue , is f or her
to succumb to her o wn instinctive behavior when frustr ation sets in. I ha ve heard many a cry for help from handlers
who, thinking the w eaves/A-frame/dogwalk (you name it)
was perfectly taught and fully proofed, lost control for a second and shout ed "No" when the dog 's performance was a
little less than perfect. Maybe it was late and you were tired,
but the effect of the nega tive response is still the same!
The damage from such a lapse, depending on the dog, can
range from minimal to totally devastating. The most sensitive of dogs migh t well decide tha t it's best t o avoid that
piece of equipment or obedience behavior (you put in your
own) altogether!
Many recalls suffer from this syndrome. Most of us strive to be
very positive every time our dogs r eturn to us when called .
But how many of us can put our hands on our hearts and say
we haven't occasionally been less than positiv e if Fido made
us late or r eturned smelling of the la test in highly pr ized
doggy perfumes!

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Clean Run - October 2014

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