Xoloitzcuintli being lured into position for a photo shoot of mine several years back.
Our early morning walk gave me lots to talk about. Right out of the shoot we ran into a woman and her lovely Golden Retriever. He was determined to come and visit us but she wanted him to continue his walk. When the Golden jammed on his brakes and tried to drag his guardian to us, we kept going. Clearly we were not interested so she tried to call him away; but he was not budging. He planted his feet and stood his ground as we passed by. She pulled out a treat and easily lured his head around with the food (he was a Golden); but she did not follow through, she did not deliver the food reward that she had lured him with.
So what happened next was completely expected, he quickly turned around and began to pull towards us again. She lured again, he turned and started to go but did not receive the food treat again. He turned and pulled hard, he was not falling for this ploy again. Frustrated, she physically hauled him away.
So what happened here? The dog didn’t do anything wrong but the human surely did.
She hadn’t trained a verbal cue for coming along when asked.
She bribed her dog with food and then didn’t pay (lied to him).
She didn’t get moving quickly enough when he turned towards her, rewarding as they moved away.
She did not use any words of reinforcement as he turned to her.
Bribing dogs with food and then not paying them for their efforts is a big no, no. This is a huge mistake and one that many people make. If you tell your dog that they are going to get food and then don’t give it to them when they do what you asked, they aren’t going to trust you. Lying to our dogs is a big mistake.
I’ve seen people call out “COOKIE” in desperation when their dog doesn’t come and when they hear this word they fly in. If at that point they don’t get the cookie, the dogs return will get slower and slower until it is no more.
When we start teaching new behaviors we reward every successful step. Once the behavior is reliable (trained and proofed under all situations and environments), we fill the time between asking for the behavior and treat delivery with time (verbal praise). Then depending on the behavior, we reward the super amazing behaviors; but always continue to verbally praise our dogs.
Example:
You are out on a walk and ask your dog to change directions with a “this way.” In the beginning you lure them around with the food and reward immediately. As they learn the verbal cue, you make the turn, tell them how wonderful they are and reward. Then you reward a little later after the turn until they are solid on this and slowly wean off constant food rewards. Saving the food rewards for the amazing “this ways.”
This means that even when there is no food coming, we gush over our dog’s accomplishments. BUT, and this is a big BUT; if you lure with food, you had better pay up.
I like to use “thank you” as my “go to” when slowly dropping the food rewards. Thank you comes very naturally for me if I ask my dogs to do something. But I also use a lot of food rewards when we are out and about.
This is much the same as using a behavior marker and not paying. I often see people clicking away with their clicker and not rewarding the dog when they click. The click is not the reward, no dog will ever be thrilled solely by the sound of a clicker. The clicker means a reward is absolutely coming. So if you don’t reward when you either click or use a verbal or vocal behavior marker; your marker will lose it’s power.
The behavior marker MUST be followed by the reward.
Had the woman lured her dog, got moving quickly and rewarded her dog for following along; they would have been well on their way then.
Using behavior markers and food rewards can be very complicated when you don’t fully understand it all. But know this, if you bribe or lure with food, you better pay up. If you use a behavior marker, you must pay; that is how a behavior marker has the power that it does.