Quote:
Originally Posted by IlliniJen  That's good advice for when we're playing.
I have a stupid question: is a food reward after a desired action better than luring with a food reward? For instance, I'm trying to teach Tater how to come when called. He's doing okay, but he seems to forget halfway through sometimes when we're outside, so I stand in the doorway and shake the food bag at him, and he comes a'galloping in. I reward him regardless if he comes when called or if lured. Am I basically teaching him the same thing, or will luring him with food negatively impact him in the future? Will he only come if I shake the food baggie? |
That's not a stupid question..it's a very good one. Yes, the food baggie can become PART of the CUE. You want to avoid this. Luring has it's place in training but should be limited to the first one or two times while you work on the verbal cue...so:
Dont use the word COME for now except for actual training sessions. Half the struggle for the humans is not poisoning the cue by using it when it is not fully trained yet. It simply makes it "white noise" to the dog. This is why you see people at the dog park yelling "Barfy, COME!" a zillion times and the pup just keeps on keeping on. If that means you standing in the doorway and tut tuting, baby talking, babbling like an idiot and shaking your booty to get your dog's attention then that is what you should do...lol. If he doesn't come to you GO GET HIM or run excitedly into the house like the most exciting thing ever is IN THE KITCHEN and THEN reward him with a treat when his curiousity has got him trailing you in. ALWAYS reward him and make it a good one, specially reserved for following YOU.
For training the come you DO start with a lure. It should be very small but smelly. You have Tater sit, then facing him, stick the lure under his nose and take two steps back, use the lure to bring him to you and into another sit and reward him. Say "Tater, come" while you are luring him. (the Sit is because puppies are notorious for being hard to leash up if they are standing...so no "chase games" should happen if you have a good sit at the end of the COME cue).
Do this two or three times then use your hand in the same motion, repeating the exercise but with the treat in your pocket or OTHER hand. Reward him with the other hand. Build up to longer distances and to having the treat in a bowl nearby and then in another room. Only say the command ONCE.
Once you are getting a consistent response (come and sit in front of me) you can build distance and practice calling him from different areas of the house. Then you move it outside, going back to the lure and having him on leash if necessary and do the whole thing again. Like any behaviour it takes time and patience and consistency, since recall is a potentially lifesaving command it should be done gradually, building distractions one at a time and only used when you are SURE he is coming to you.
If you have a significant other, Puppy Ping Pong is a good way too...one holds the dog, the other calls and then rewards him. Reverse and repeat.
Also two very important things:
Don't EVER punish him for coming to you, even if he's just rolled in poop, chewed your best shoes or ran around the neighbourhood like a madman. When he EVENTUALLY arrives, reward him.
Don't EVER use come for a negative thing, so no using the cue for nail clipping, bathing, ear cleaning or whatever he doesn't like. This also means that if you use it at the dogpark that you should do it several times during play and release him back to the gang with "go play!" so he knows it does not always mean an end to his fun.
Hope this info helps, it's so much easier to teach a puppy than a dog who's had his recall ruined by silly humans!
