Field Guide · Glossary
Find it
Skills and cuesA cue that sends a dog to search the ground for food that has just been scattered there.
How it works
It does two things at once. It gives a dog a simple job with a guaranteed payoff, and it puts their head down, which is a physically incompatible posture with staring at something across the road. Because the behavior is easy and the reward is immediate, it holds up in situations where more demanding cues stop working. It is most useful as a way of getting through a moment, rather than as a way of changing how a dog feels about what caused it.
What it looks like
A dog begins to fix on a delivery van across the street. The handler scatters a few treats at their feet and gives the cue. The dog spends fifteen seconds nose-down, and by the time they look up the van has gone.
Commonly confused with
- Scatter feeding
- Scatter feeding is a way of delivering a meal so it takes longer to eat. Find it is a trained cue used in a specific moment, usually with a few treats rather than a portion.
Related terms
Where this comes up
Gear that helps
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Snuffle mat
Hides kibble in the fabric so a dog sniffs it out, and sniffing is genuinely calming. Our go-to for a dog who needs a job on a rainy day.
High-value freeze-dried training treats
The paycheck. For reactive work the reward has to beat the trigger, so we keep these tiny, soft, and genuinely exciting, not everyday biscuits.
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