Reward Based Training: Luring vs. Rewarding – REWARDING

Last time, we dissected the concept of “luring.” Once your pup is showing he is ready to move on from luring, its time to switch the way you are giving treats by “rewarding” the behaviors.  

How do I move from luring to rewarding?

Okay, so your puppy is quick to move into position when you give the verbal cue and use a lure! Great! Your pup is now ready to move to a reward instead of a lure! There are several different ways to move your pup from a lure to rewards.  Please keep the 3Ds in mind when starting to move off a lure. Do not make any distraction, distance, or duration too difficult when first asking your pup for the behaviors without a lure.

• Cold turkey! Simply leave your treat in your pouch and give the verbal AND hand signal cues. When your pup executes the behavior, use the “yes” marker word, reach for the treat in your pouch, give treat, praise, release dog.
• Warm up your pup! Sometimes a pup does best when you use a lure a few times and then switch to a reward only. Ask for the behavior 2-3 times with a lure and then ask for behavior without the lure, right away. Gradually move away from having to do a few “warm up” lures for the behavior.

How do I use rewards for continuing my pup’s training?

Once your pup has moved to rewards and is no longer being lured for a specific behavior, you will want to use rewards quite often until your puppy has started to generalize the behavior. You always want to use praise, even once you have become more intermittent with rewarding a behavior! We will discuss how to move to more intermittent rewards in an upcoming Blue Cape Journal entry. Here are some tips for using rewards for training.

• Keep treats in a pouch or pocket. Treats need to be easily accessible. This means if you are wearing pants that have tight pockets, you may need to consider a treat pouch.
• Do NOT hold treats in your hand! Every dog knows when you are holding a treat in your hand, especially because you have been luring to teach them the behavior. If you have to hold a treat in your hand, your dog is still being lured for the behavior. This is a really important one for when we move to very rare rewarding as the dog gets older.
• Use small treats or take from your pup’s meals. In order to not cause your pup to gain unnecessary weight, pull most of your treats from your pup’s meals. However, you might need to use “high value” rewards in very distracting situations (such as puppy meetings). If high value rewards are needed, try to use something soft and smelly, made in the USA or Canada. Soft treats are easy to break into very small pieces, allowing you to get more use out of the treats you are using.

Here is a video of my pup Walton doing sits and downs for rewards (no lures). Notice that I’m still using the “yes” marker word. Also, Walton isn’t always quick on some of his commands and you’ll notice that I patiently wait for a few seconds instead of rapidly repeating the command.

Rewards from Southeastern Guide Dogs on Vimeo.

By pairing the “yes” marker word techniques, luring and rewarding, and keeping the 3Ds in check, your pup is on his way to a great start!