Many people are familiar with the basics of marker training, where we teach the dog that a marker (often a click from a clicker, or a word like “yes”) predicts that a treat is coming. We can add even more clarity and predictability to our training by teaching our dogs specific cues for different treat delivery methods, like tossing them a treat for them to catch, taking food from our hand, or a tossed treat to sniff out in the grass. This is typically referred to as a “multiple marker system.”

Using a multiple marker system can be especially helpful for reactive dogs or dogs that struggle to regulate their arousal. By teaching them multiple, predictable cues for treat delivery, we have more tools to evaluate how overwhelmed they are (will they take a tossed piece of food, but don’t want to take it from my hand or the ground?), and we have more tools to help bring them down from a high arousal state. Many dogs find tossed treats much more fun to engage with than a treat just handed to them directly and it can be much easier to get them to engage with you around distractions because of it. We can then move away from the trigger while keeping them engaged and use our other calmer treat delivery methods (like sniffing treats out on the ground) once out of the overstimulating situation to lower their arousal afterwards.

Teaching new markers is quite easy! All it takes is practicing using the cue of your choice prior to delivering the reward in the method you want to pair it with. Here at the shelter, we typically use “catch” for treats tossed directly to the dog, “find it” for treats tossed onto the ground for them to find, and “take it” for treats offered directly from the hand. You can use any cue you want and pair it with other rewards as well. Many trainers use markers for rewarding with toys (like “strike” to tell the dog to bite a tug toy), or even for specific extremely high value treats (just teaching them the word “cheese”). Get creative and think about what your dog enjoys and finds motivating! Like with teaching any new skills, practice in your home or yard before trying to take it out around distractions, and soon you’ll feel like an even more compatible team.