Field Guide · Glossary
Poisoned cue
Learning scienceA cue that a dog has learned to ignore or avoid because of what has usually followed it.
How it works
A cue has no meaning of its own. A dog learns what a word means from what tends to happen after it is said. When a word is repeated in situations where the dog cannot respond, and nothing follows, the dog learns the word can be ignored. When a word is regularly followed by something unpleasant, such as the end of play or being shut indoors, the dog may start to avoid it. Either way the word stops doing its job. Fixing it usually means rebuilding the word's history in easy settings, or switching to a new word that has no history yet.
What it looks like
A dog is called in from the yard every evening, and each time the recall is followed by the back door closing and playtime ending. After a few months the dog hears the word and moves further away. The same dog runs straight over to a new word that has only ever been followed by a treat and a trip back outside.
Commonly confused with
- Extinction
- Extinction is a behavior fading because it stopped producing a result. A poisoned cue is a word losing its meaning, either because nothing followed it or because what followed was unpleasant.
Related terms
Where this comes up