“Get It” and “Find It” cues can be incredibly helpful for teaching dogs about when a reward is coming and how it will be delivered. Differentiating between the two types of cues, also gives your dog a wealth of information about what behavior you would like. Whether you want them to actively sniff or search for something or if you want them to run directly to something.
Having separate cues for marking (Get It) vs searching (Find It) can make it easier for you to prompt your dog to practice behaviors to aid in their acclimation to a location, for your dog to connect with you and engage with you in when they are feeling unsure about a situation, and so on. For example playing variations of “find it” games can help some dogs calm their arousal levels. And “get it” games can increase arousal in some dogs. Which if you have them on separate cues, you can use those condition cues to help calm or arouse your dog as a situation may warrant. For some dogs, sniffing is a way to de-stress and feel more secure, putting sniffing on a cue and engaging with your dog during the games, can help some dogs be more ready to trust their handler who is now a part of their sniffing rather than telling them the dog he can’t sniff to meet his needs. There are many situations where having taught an understanding for your dog of ‘get it’ vs ‘find it’ is beneficial.
Here’s a quick video on how I define the difference between “Get It” and “Find It” cues.
