When teaching basic manners, the goal is for your dog to respond quickly, reliably, and happily to verbal instructions, no matter how distracting the circumstances. Otherwise, you will have no control when she is off-leash, out of reach, or when her back is turned — in a park or at home.
Any number of training tools – including food and toy lures and rewards, leash prompts, and leash corrections – can help with this essential training. That said, it is imperative that the use of all training tools be phased out as quickly as possible. Temporary training tools should not become permanent management tools. Think of dog training like playing tennis or golf, or dancing or walking with a friend. You wouldn’t dream of luring, bribing, rewarding, or using force on a human companion.
Phasing out Lures
Using food and toy lures is the quickest way to teach the dog the meaning of hand signals and verbal instructions. Essentially we use lures to teach the dog ESL — English as a second language — to teach the dog what we want him to do. However, food lures must be phased out within just 6 to 12 repetitions, otherwise the lures will become bribes and your dog’s response will be contingent on you always having food in your hand.
Physical (hand or leash) prompts are much less efficient than lures for teaching the meaning of commands, and if misused they quickly become crutches in training. We teach SIRIUS® Puppy Training classes entirely off-leash so that owners never become addicted to these techniques.
Especially for novice dog trainers, food is certainly the best choice for a lure and, as an added bonus, using food conditions your dog to like training and the trainer, i.e., you.
Reducing Food Rewards
Praise is by far the best way to motivate dogs and reinforce desired behavior, but many owners find using food rewards easier. Initially, use a bounty of rewards to motivate the dog to want to do what you want him to do. You can never give too many food rewards in terms of classical conditioning. However, it is important when teaching manners to reduce the number of rewards as quickly as possible. Dogs learn quickly when rewarded for every correct response, but then performance will drop off and reliability will go down the toilet. If dogs are rewarded for every correct response, they learn that there is no urgency to respond, since a food reward will always be given when they eventually comply.
Additionally, reducing the number of food rewards makes it possible to differentially reinforce the dog’s responses so the quality of performance improves. If you reward your dog for every response, below-average responses are rewarded along with above-average responses, and hence the quality of performance never changes. You should never reward below-average responses but only above-average ones. Of course, better responses deserve better rewards and the best responses deserve the very best rewards.
Phasing Out Food Rewards
You don’t want to carry around a treat bag for the rest of your dog’s life, so it is important to go cold turkey on food rewards and replace them with much more powerful life rewards. Make a list of your dog’s favorite activities and ask your dog to “say please” before each one. For example, ask your dog to sit before couch-time or tummy rubs. Ask your dog to sit before you open doors, put on her leash, or let her off-leash. Ask your dog to sit before you throw a tennis ball or Frisbee. And, of course, ask her to sit for her supper.
Also, integrate short training interludes into your dog’s favorite lengthier activities, such as walks or playing with other dogs — Sit-Go Play, Sit-Go Play, Sit-Go Play, etc. Every time you interrupt play by asking your dog to sit, you may use “Go Play” as a reward for sitting. Thus any potential distraction that might work against training becomes an effective reward.
When you train your dog correctly, the activity alone is more than sufficient reward. External rewards are no longer necessary because she has become self-motivating and internally rewarded.
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