Imagine if you could get your dog to read the inside and outside world and make smart decisions that make both of your lives easier? It’s definitely possible and we’re going to break down how to do this. In the how-to video above you’ll see me teach Otis to lie down (without any human instructions) when I open the dishwasher. If you keep scrolling down below we have even more quick and fun examples from our friend and professional trainer, Juliana Willems. Once you learn this concept, you can apply it in so many ways to prevent or solve problems or even just create a more harmonious life with your dog.

How to Be the Translator that Helps Your Dog Read the Room

For more on cue transferring, check out this IG live we did with Juliana on April 20.

Do you remember what it was like to start a new job? Imagine that it’s your first week at a new company, and when you show up to your first morning meeting, your boss Johnny walks in. Sarah, your peer who has been at the company for several years, turns to you and says, “Close your laptop.” Sarah translated what Johnny entering the room indicated, so that you would know how to behave (she knows from her years of experience working for him that Johnny’s pet peeve is when his employees are distracted and looking at their computers during meetings). Now, when Johnny walks into your morning meetings, you automatically close your laptop without Sarah having to translate for you. From a behavioral perspective, Johnny walking into the meeting became an environmental cue for you to close your laptop.

If we want our dogs to behave in certain ways around environmental cues, we will have to channel your hypothetical colleague Sarah and translate for our dogs until their new learned behaviors become automatic. In dog trainer speak, we are doing something called a “cue transfer.”

How a Simple Acronym Will Help You Be an Effective Translator for Your Dog

OOO. SMART. SHIT Sandwich. Don’t you just cringe at all of those weird corporate acronyms that people love to throw around at work?! Well we figured we’d keep the party going here and give you one for this context! LOL!!

In this graphic, I break down NOB with the example of teaching my dog, Otis, to lie down when I open the dishwasher.

Here is the acronym you need to remember when you serve as a translator for your dog (a.k.a. when you want to transfer a cue): NOB

New Cue - This is the new environmental cue that your dog doesn’t really know yet. In our office example, the new cue was Johnny walking into the morning meeting.

Old Cue - This is a cue that your dog already knows. In our office example, the old cue was Sarah saying “close your laptop.”

Behavior - This is the behavior your dog does based on the cue you give him. In our office example, the behavior was closing your laptop.

This order matters, which is why we’ve given you the NOB acronym to remember the sequence!

Here are some basic steps for your NOB (a.k.a. cue transfer) training sessions:

Make sure you clearly define your desired behavior and what specific thing in the environment you want to serve as the cue. (Hot tip: “Not barking” is not a specific behavior. Focus on the behavior you want rather than on the one you don’t want.)
Present your dog with the new cue (the environmental cue).
Wait a second and then present your dog with the old cue (the cue they already know).
When they offer the behavior you want, reward them.
Repeat.
Then pause for a longer period of time after presenting the new cue to see if your dog will automatically offer the behavior without you having to give the old cue. If they don’t, no problem - just present the old cue.
Reward when they offer the behavior.
Repeat these steps until your dog automatically and consistently offers the behavior when presented with the new cue.

Three Amazing Examples of How Dogs Learned to Read the Room

When Opening the Back Door Becomes a Cue to Go to Bed

Open your back door.
About one second later, say “go to bed” (Note: This must be a known cue for your dog).
Reward your dog when he gets into the bed.
Reset (release or do a reset toss) and repeat.
When you think your dog is ready, open the back door and wait a bit longer silently to see if your dog will go to his bed on his own. If he does not, simply say your old cue “go to bed.”
Either way, reward your dog when he gets in bed.
Repeat until your dog consistently and automatically goes to bed when you open the back door (without you having to say “go to bed.”)

When Opening the Dishwasher Becomes a Cue to “Go to Your Crate”

Open the dishwasher door.
About one second later, say “crate” (Note: This must be a known cue for your dog.).
Reward your dog when he gets into his crate.
Reset (release your dog or do a reset toss by tossing a treat away) and repeat.
When you think your dog is ready, open the dishwasher door and silently wait a bit longer silently to see if your dog will go to his crate on his own. If he does not, simply say your old cue “crate.”
Either way, reward your dog when he gets into the crate.
Repeat until your dog consistently and automatically goes into the crate when you open the dishwasher door (without you having to say “crate.”)

When Ringing the Doorbell Becomes a Cue to Come Sit in Front of You

Ring the doorbell.
About one second later, say “come.”
Reward your dog when he comes to sit in front of you.
Reset (toss a treat away) and repeat steps one through four.
When you think your dog is ready, ring the doorbell and wait silently for a bit longer to see if your dog will come and sit in front of you on his own. If he does not, simply say your old cue “come.”
Either way, reward your dog when he sits in front of you.
Repeat until your dog consistently and automatically comes and sits in front of you when he hears the doorbell (without you having to say “come.”)

Why Reading the Room is the Gateway to Problem Solving with Your Dog

If you hate nagging your dog then you’ll love cue transferring. Eventually you’ll be able to remove yourself from the equation and let the environment tell your dog what to do. This concept can be used in so many situations! Here are just a few of the ways we’ve seen it used to help:

Reduce problematic barking
Reduce the risk of a dog running out of an open door
Stop annoying behaviors like sock stealing or getting onto an open dishwasher
Teach your dog to automatically look at you when he sees a [insert cue...dog, person, squirrel, deer, car, etc.]
Teach your dog to automatically sit and wait before crossing the street

So What Happens in Real Life When We’re Outside of Our Training Sessions?

Most of our dogs will encounter "new environmental cues" outside of training sessions before we have fully completed our work as their translators. In some cases, you may even have an environmental cue that you find difficult to replicate in a training session. So what do you do then? You have two options:

1. Try to get the ideal behavior as quickly as possible after your dog perceives the "new cue." Let's use a real life example from my own experience working with my dog, Sully. She is completely fine with our vacuum cleaner, but she cannot stand the one that the caretaker uses to vacuum our apartment building hallways every single day (that hallway vacuum is a completely separate environmental cue for her). At first, when she heard the hallway vacuum, she would go nuts barking at the door. I decided I wanted that scenario to tell Sully to run to her bed instead of barking at the door, so I had to translate the environment for her. While I never knew exactly when the vacuum would show up, I could predict it was generally in the afternoon. I made sure to have some very high value treats that I could grab in a moment’s notice. The second Sully noticed the vacuum, I would cue her to go to her bed. At first, I often had to stick a smelly treat in front of her nose and lure her away from the door and to her bed, where I made treats rain from the sky for as long as that vacuum was in our hallway. Over time, I no longer had to lure her away from the door when she heard the vacuum. Instead, I could redirect her pretty easily with a verbal cue asking her to go to her bed (aka the "old cue"). And eventually, I no longer needed to lift a finger. Now when Sully hears the vacuum she will walk away from the door and to her bed and I don’t have to say anything! (Side note: Because the hallway vacuum only appears once a day and it is a real life situation that involved some reactivity, my progress was much slower initially than it would have been if I was able to do actual training sessions on a more neutral cue. But it still worked!)

2. Manage the situation by keeping your dog from being able to practice the behavior you don't like around the new cue. Let's use my same hallway vacuum example from above. Some days I had important calls in the afternoon that I couldn't easily step away from to work with Sully if the vacuum appeared. On those days, I would put Sully into the bedroom (farther away from the hallway) and play a little white noise or music to reduce the chance that she would actually hear the vacuum. I wasn't making progress with her by doing this, but I also wasn't allowing the situation to get any worse.

We can’t wait to see you start to translate the environment for your dog and help him read the room. Be sure to tag @tailsofconneciton on Facebook and Instagram.

A big thank you to Juliana for chatting with us about this fun topic! If you want to learn more about Juliana, you can visit her website.

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