FE585: Modifier Cues

Lecture 1.3 - WORD ORDER DOES MATTER - DETERMINING YOUR SYNTAX For Cues

No this isn’t an English lesson but rather a discussion on how we’re going to be using words for cue order and why it matters. Quite often we’ll work at teaching a skill or behaviour and not think much about the cue we want to use until the behaviour is ready to have the cue attached. This usually doesn’t pose any problems, however, when it comes to teaching the concept of modifiers, we need to consider ahead of time how we’re going to use our “words” (develop our cues) and how we may eventually use modifiers in other instances.

Before we begin, we need to make sure we take the time to give careful thought into how we’re going to string our words together for our cues. We will want to determine the order of our words up front because we will be maintaining that order throughout our training. Be very sure of your order as changing the rules midway will become extremely confusing for both you and your dog.

So, what exactly is Syntax? Syntax in literature refers to the actual way in which words and sentences are placed together in the writing. Usually, in the English language the syntax should follow a pattern of subject-verb-object but sometimes authors play around with this to achieve a lyrical, rhythmic, rhetoric or questioning effect. Well, now we’re not exactly playing around with lyrical, rhythmic or rhetoric effect, but we will be trying to make our cues as simple as possible and in an order that not only makes sense to us but is also easy to apply in our training.

We want to keep the syntax (number of words and order) as simple as possible in the beginning stages. Later, if you wish to pursue the modifier concept even further, you can work towards working with more complex syntax structure of 3 even 4 words. However, for our purposes in this class, we’re going to keep our cue syntax really simple – TWO WORDS.

Typically, the two-word syntax needed to start with modifiers is the verb (the actual action or behaviour) and then the modifiers (left or right). How would this translate or look as a cue? Let’s consider that we want our dog to “Target object on the right”. In this case, the “Target” is the action (verb) and the further descriptive of “on the right” becomes our modifier.

If you take the behaviour of “Go to a kennel on the left”, again the “Go to kennel” is your action (verb) and “on the left” is the modifier. In this example, you may be thinking that kennel is actually a noun? Well, yes, it is a noun, but because most of us quite often use a single cue such as “kennel”, “table” or “mat”, that means to specifically go into the kennel, onto the table or down on the mat, we’ll be treating it as a “single action” and not the “piece of equipment” (noun)

DETERMINING OUR CUE ORDER – A 2-Word Syntax
We have two possibilities for the order of our 2-word syntax. Here’s how they look:

• Action – Modifier (Kennel-Left or Target-Right). If you have a dog who is extremely fluent with cues and you were to give the cue “kennel” or “target” before the modifier, they would be focused and already in the process of completing the behaviour before you had time to include or insert the modifier.
• Modifier – Action (Left-Kennel, Left-Target). In this instance, with your words placed in this order, you will find your dog naturally waits for the verb (action) part of the cue which specifically tells him what to do.

While you could use either order of the two noted above I find using the Modifier – Action is best and preferred because of the built-in “wait” - the dog instinctively waits for the verb as it is the verb that tells him what TO DO.

We will be using the “Modifier – Action” cue format in this class. If you choose to take concept training further, introducing multiple word syntax then the “Modifier – Action” is the most recommended option.

Using the “Action – Modifier” option would necessitate you teaching a release cue as part of your syntax so the dog understands not to begin or do the behaviour until they have been released. This is very advanced work and will not be covered in this class.

If you think you will eventually move toward 3 and 4-word syntax, I strongly recommend using the Modifier-verb syntax; left-target, or large-kennel.

We will also be assuming that “target” is a generic behaviour meaning that your dog will target - either using a nose or foot - on any object placed in front of them. If your dog actually did know the name of the object, then adding that specific information into the syntax would require you use a 3-word syntax. – In this instance, your cue would look like: Left, Ball, Target.

Again, this will be something additional you could pursue but will not be covered in this class.

USING CUES YOUR DOG KNOWS: Visual, Verbal (auditory) & Tactile
What we don’t want to do in class is teach totally brand, new cues for things our dogs already know. Instead, we want to continue to use cues our dogs are familiar with. Some of the most common cues come as: Visual, Auditory, and Tactile.

To explain further - I often use and will give a verbal cue (modifier) and then provide a visual (directional) cue along with a verbal cue for the action. This particular sequence has been the way I’ve always worked. When developing any of my cues I also want to bring my dogs to the working point of being comfortable using either verbal or visual cues independently of each other (not always having to pair them together). This allows me to have more options in my training.

Here are some examples of how I would be using the modifier followed by verbal/visual cues:

- If you wish your dog to target the large object, you would cue, large, target by saying “large” followed immediately by the verbal/visual (pointing) cue to the target.

- If you wish your dog to enter the kennel on the right, you would cue right, kennel by saying “right” followed immediately by a verbal/visual (pointing) cue for kennel.

By keeping my verbal cues slightly ahead of my visual directional prompt I can quite easily fade the extra physical prompt enabling me to use verbal cues only.  This is the sequence we will be adopting as we progress through teaching modifiers. However, we will be eliminating directional cues as quickly as possible.

EXPLANATION OF A MORE COMPLEX SYNTAX – 3-Words
Even though, as I mentioned above, we won’t be using a 3-word syntax you just might get the bug and want to stretch your's and your dog’s abilities. With this in mind, I wanted to include how you might go about using a 3-word syntax and how best to choose your word order.

With the simple 2- word syntax we used the modifier (left or right) and action (target or kennel). Generally, the most common need to add an additional word is with the addition of a noun (object) to the cue. Here’s an example of cue order that can be adopted. As you’ll see each of the cues has an action, an object and a modifier.

• Target (action), on the chair (noun/object), to the right (modifier)
• Retrieve (action), the small (modifier), ball (noun/object)
• Sit (action), on the large (modifier), mat (noun/object)

As you can see there are many ways the cues can be formulated but in any case, it is ultimately very important that whichever order you choose that you remain consistent. To do that you need to consider and think about whether we are modifying the action or the object. If we consider grammar, modifiers (adjectives) are used in conjunction with objects (nouns) not the actions (verbs). But if your dog has been trained and is used to going to a mat or onto a table, then the animal perceives the cue “mat” or “table” as an action (which just happens to include a specific place or object).

In these cases, the action implied an object but you did not teach it as a noun, nor did your dog learn it as such. Thus, with 2-word syntax it appears to be modifying the action and not the object. If you start using a 3-word syntax you will generally be modifying an object (mat, table, target)

Assuming that we are using the modifier-action syntax as suggested for class, you will again be faced with two choices once you add in the additional option of an object.

• Modifier – Object – Verb: This option tends to be the most natural as it is normally the way we speak. Generally, we put the modifier before the object, such as in “small box” or “white towel”. This may seem normal but in fact its backwards from the way many other languages form regular sentences.
• Object – Modifier – Verb: In this instance, if you wanted your dog to retrieve the small ball, you would cue Ball-Small-Bring (my cue for retrieve). If I wanted my dog to target a box on the right, I would cue it as Box-Right-Target.

As you can see adding more word to your syntax can be useful but it also becomes quite complex, requiring careful thought for usage. Rarely will you use or have the need for more than a 3-word syntax cue. Instead, more often than not, you will use a simple 2-word syntax of Modifier – Action (preferred order) but I wanted to show you the considerations and process for creating a 3-word option.