# Adding the Verbal Cue: Proper Timing?



## fellipe (Apr 26, 2012)

Hello and greetings from Brasil 
I've been researching Dog traning for the last few days so I can start traning my own lab 7mo.

My question is the proper timing to say the word (verbal cue)...

Some sources says to add the verbal cue in the exact moment the dog is offering the behavior and then say it earlier and earlier each time...

But the 'kikopup' videos in youtube the trainer adds the verbal cue right off the beginning BEFORE the actual behavior execution...

See an example, here: 






In the description:


> There are three easy steps to teaching a Verbal Cue:
> 
> Step 1: Give the hand signal 5-10 times to help the dog predict what you will ask next.
> 
> ...


Doesn't it make the dog associate the verbal cue with the wrong behavior?

Can you help me? I'm a bit confused...

Thanks!!


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

Looks about right to me. Before you add a verbal cue, you want to follow the 90% rule.That being that the dog offers the correct behavior at least 90 percent of the time before you add a verbal cue. 

But quite honestly, I've never thought about a transition from hand to voice cue. She looks like she has it right.


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

you'll notice that when her dog offered the wrong behavior, she just didn't do anything except reset the dog to set her up for success. Looks good to me! 



fellipe said:


> Hello and greetings from Brasil
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't it make the dog associate the verbal cue with the wrong behavior?


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I agree with Kikopup, say the word right before the behavior. You only begin saying the word when you are almost certain the dog is going to do the behavior. So say you are training the dog to sit. You are either waiting for the dog to sit on his own, or luring, and once the dog sits you give a treat. You don't use any verbal at this point. Only when the dog immediately sits at the hand signal or immediately sits again after being given a treat and encouraged back up do you begin using a verbal command. So it's either "sit"-use hand signal-dog sits-give treat or "sit"-dogs sits because he has been doing it over and over automatically-give treat. With the hand signal you will eventually start having a slight pause between the verbal and the hand signal to see if the dog knows the verbal yet. You do not begin using the verbal when the dog is still guessing about what to do, offering wrong behaviors, or waiting a long time between offering the correct behavior because that would be naming the wrong things. But once the dog is just repeating the behavior over and over like a champ it is fine to start using the verbal.


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