There are important differences between using food as a lure and using food as a reward:
Food Lures. The food lure is used as an aide and motivator to teach the dog the body mechanics of a behavior like Sit or Down by having him target and follow the visible food lure in your hand with his nose. (At this point the dog is smelling, but usually not being allowed to eat the treat). Luring should be faded out as soon as possible so that this doesn’t become a permanent crutch for your dog and so that your dog does not come to depend on the visible presence of food to obey you. You can usually fade out the lure after about 6 repetitions of a behavior.
Fading the food lure. Fading the food lure means gradually eliminating the lure as a crutch to get/elicit the behavior. How. After your dog will readily perform a behavior when you lure him (usually after about half a dozen repetitions) make the same luring movement/signal, but with an empty hand. Tell your dog to Sit and/or give your hand signal (without the food lure), and if he does, immediately click and reward him from your other hand. Keep the treats out of sight in your other hand, pocket or fanny pack and eventually, sometimes off your person entirely in a near, by location such as a table or counter top.
Food Rewards. In contrast to food lures, which come into play before the dog performs a behavior as an aide to teaching the body mechanics of the behavior, food used as a reward is given to the dog to eat after a behavior is performed. In addition, after the visible food lure is faded out, food used as a reward is usually kept out of sight until after the dog has performed the cued behavior. Food rewards help maintain your dog’s enthusiasm and motivation so they should never be completely phased out, although they should gradually change from being offered every time the dog gives a correct response to being given on a random schedule.
Why the confusion? Initially, when the dog is learning a new behavior (sometimes called “the teaching phase” of training) the same piece of food used as a lure to get the dog to perform the physical movements of a behavior such as Sit, a few seconds later becomes the actual treat given as a reward for that behavior. However, at a later stage in training, after the dog knows how to perform a behavior on cue, you should no longer need to lure him and should then be using food only as a reward.
Using food as bribe is a no-no. You are using food as a bribe when you dangle it in front of the dog before getting him to perform a behavior that he has already become proficient at. To prevent the food from becoming a bribe, keep the food out of sight until the dog has given a correct response and offer the treat immediately afterwards as a paycheck for a job well done.
Food Rewards—Schedules of Reinforcement. While the dog is in the learning stage of a new behavior, you should reward him on a continuous basis—in other words, he gets a treat every time he performs the requested behavior.
Moving to a random reward schedule. Once the dog performs reliably, you no longer have to give him a treat for every correct action—you can gradually put the rewards on a random schedule. How. When your dog is responding promptly and correctly about at least 85% of the time (5 times out of 6) begin to reward him every 2nd time, then every 3rd time, every 4th time, then randomly. Let your dog’s behavior guide you in how fast to proceed in cutting down on the frequency of rewards, and if his correct responses slow, drop back to a more frequent reward schedule.
Raise your criteria. Since you are now only rewarding some of the time, try to reward/reinforce the fastest downs, the straightest sits, etc. Give Jackpots for really good responses! Mix in Non Food Rewards. Once your dog is very solid with a behavior, you can begin to sometimes offer a reward other than food. When your dog responds to your cues, praise and play with him with or without a toy. Remember that rewarded behavior remains strong, unrewarded behavior will eventually fade and extinguish. Think of food, play, and other rewards as your dog’s paychecks!
Trouble Shooting: "My Dog Only Works for Food!" Then go back to the beginning and make sure that you first fade out the food lure, then move through your reinforcement schedule more carefully.
Be sure that you introduce real life rewards including praise, play, toys, walks, etc.
Also place your dog on the NO FREE LUNCH regimen! Cue your dog to Sit before you put his supper bowl down, before you play with him, before you open the door to let him go in or out.
Use gentle enforcement: If you ask your dog for a behavior and he does not comply because you aren't wiggling a hot dog under his nose, slip his leash on, keep it short but loose, so that he can't go off to pursue a distraction, and ignore him for a minute or two-- to quote Dr. Ian Dunbar, "Life Stops" temporarily until your dog is ready to comply with your direction. Give him another chance and if he responds well, praise him warmly and play with him . Sometimes when owners have this problem, they are not reinforcing/rewarding their dogs often enough! What happens is that they rarely give a reward, the behavior response weakens and becomes less and less reliable, then the owner whips out some food and the dog snaps to attention--so the owner concludes that the dog only works when he can see the weenie. The solution is to reward your dog frequently enough to keep the behavior strong, but to reward the best responses and to mix up treat rewards with other real life rewards. Also sometimes reward with treats when the treats are not on your person--dog performs behavior--praise it, then run with dog to get the treat. The dog gets immediate praise a behavior marker, the run provides immediate reinforcement, and the treat becomes the jackpot!
Very well written with detail for an easy understanding. Great article! If anyone has the opportunity to attend Ian Dunbar's seminars, I would highly recommend going. It is well worth it. You can also search Youtube for glimpes of his seminars. www.legacyleavittbulldogs.com
I finally had the time to read it. That the most complete text I could read on that subject and definitely explains what to do and most common mistakes. Thanks for sharing!
Great Post!
Posted by Marie on March 3, 2012, 1:13 pm, in reply to "Food Lures versus Rewards" Top Notch Bulldogs
Life is to good to be bothered by ignorant people.