16/06/2025
Check out these insights by speakers Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter! Make sure you join us in Richmond, VA November 5-7 to learn, connect, and grow among other dog training and behavior professionals! Learn more at apdtconference.com.
Is your “cue” actually serving as a cue?
On a recent trip, I came across this door. On the other side of the door was a local bakery.
Apparently, past patrons overwhelmingly thought the door handle was the type that needed to be PUSHED to open the door.
To fix the situation, someone added a PULL sticker to the door.
Then, another sticker.
And another, and another.
There’s also the sticker on the glass, which is harder to read because of the glare. It states, “Handle Down And PULL.”
When a cue isn’t working, our first reaction is often to repeat the cue.
Or, we give the cue bigger or louder.
Rather than giving the cue repeatedly, a better strategy is to figure out, what changes do you need to make so that your cue will produce the desired behavior?
In the case of this door, many people may be getting tripped up by their past learning history. The handle looks like it should be pushed!
Instead of a multitude of stickers, a different handle design that helped to “cue” the behavior of pulling may have been a much more effective solution.
Want to know more about cues?
This post is a quick reminder that early registration for Behavior Explorer’s Cue Repair! course ends on June 20.
You can join Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and Mary Hunter for four thought-provoking virtual sessions all about cues, stimulus control, poisoned cues, and more.
Registration and more info is available on the Behavior Explorer website.
