Something as easy as how to lure in dog training, oddly, can be done very, VERY wrong. From bad timing to rewarding biting behavior, at the end of this tutorial, you'll be a master at both avoiding mistakes, AND luring in the most effective manner.
Let's start with step one: Capturing the right behavior.
The right behavior for luring is NOT biting or bothering the hand which drastically reduces the dog's ability to learn in the moment. The right behavior is simply having their nose very close to or touching your closed fist.
Begin with a few small pieces of high value treats your dog will be very interested in. Enclose them in your fist, and have the "seam" facing your dog as pictured here. Drop your hand down and instead of shoving it at your dog (no one trusts food shoved at them ;) drop your hand down, a foot or two from your dog's face. You want to have the word, "YES!" on the tip of your tongue, ready to say it THE SECOND the dog sniffs or touches your fist.
After you say YES, simply open your hand completely, allowing the dog to take all of the pieces. PRAISE them as they eat, doing everything you can to give them an extremely good feeling. This works YOU into the picture, not just food and they will become very important as you progress in your training.
If your dog happily eats their treats, do this at least 5-10 times, switching what hand (and which side of the body) you use, gradually holding the fist a little further away from the dog. If you dog didn't want the treats, read our FOOD 101 tutorial.
If your dog is immediatley biting your closed fist, watch the accompanying video tutorial at the bottom of the page for instructions on how to prevent and not reward this. NEVER say YES when the dog is biting you. Typically, rewarding earlier will allow you to capture the right behavior (dogs often start biting because they've gotten frustrated when the handler waited too long to reward). With all training, it must FIRST be about rewarding/reinforcing "Good" behavior, not addressing "Bad" behavior.
With your dog readily going to your fist and you rewarding almost immediately, you can now move your fist SLOWLY away from the dog, for only one or two (dog) steps. Say YES, then open your hand.
BE SURE TO SAY "YES" DURING THE MOVEMENT.
Was all caps a little much? Ok, maybe but everyone gets this part wrong. The goal is to reward the dog for following your hand, so you want to mark it during the movement, while that's happening. So say YES first, then open your hand and stop.
You just don't want to stop first, instead of saying YES first. Say YES while your hand is moving and the dog is following.
You're going to slowly and gradually increase the amount of time you can move. Don't go from luring for 3 steps to 10 in one session.
Increase your steps by 2-5 per session and be sure to VARIATE when you give it.
Sometimes say YES and open your hand on step 3, then 6, then 4, then 7, then 5...
When a dog is able to predict when the reward happens, it can creat real problems so BE SMART and MIX IT UP! Take breaks to do a "treat toss", "spin" or play with a toy. Just like us, they learn better when not being drilled. Keep thing fun and short and don't try to continue if your dog is getting tired or bored.
Check out our other tutorials for more online dog training education!
Comments