How to Phase Out The Food Lures in Puppy Training
So, your puppy obeys in every situation you want him to. He comes when called when surrounded by other dogs at the dog park. He heels nicely while you pass other dogs on leash on the street. He stays put when you ask him to, despite the squirrel running 10 yards away. He stops barking at the mailman when you command him to Quiet at the door.
If all of the above are true, you are ready to get rid of the food. If not, then I strongly recommend you continue practicing all of your obedience commands in a wide variety of locations with increasing levels of distance, time, and distraction until you are very happy with your pup’s level of accomplishment. A behavior is solid only when your pup will do it in a wide variety of locations and situations with a large degree of distraction. He can only reach this level if you continue to use food lures and great enthusiasm in these locations and situations. Even then, phase the food out very gradually. This will normally take several more months for most pups!
Before you start your Lure Phaseout:
Make sure that you have been using verbal commands/cues, hand signals, and enthusiastic praise continuously during lure training. These command words, enthusiasm/praise, and hand signals will be all you have left to keep your dog’s attention after you get rid of the food, so make sure you’ve made a clear association. (Later, you can even get rid of the words and use only hand signals - as long as you’ve been using them all along.)
Make sure your pup is solidly proficient at the distance, level of distraction, and length of time that you want him to be. For instance, if he holds a 3 minute sit/stay in the living room while you are in the kitchen, great. But if you want him to hold a 5 minute sit/stay in the town square while you talk to a friend, you better work up to that, practicing in the town square with great treats until you’re satisfied with his level of accomplishment. Use the best (tiny but soft and stinky) lures/treats & lots of praise when distractions, time, distance, or number of consecutive behaviors is being increased.
Supervise children during training - make sure they are always using lures/treats and tons of praise.
Don’t bother using treats that don’t work.
Now you are ready. Use either or both of the following Lure Phase-Out Methods:
Lure Phase-Out Method One
Start to give commands sometimes with treat in your hand, sometimes without treat in hand. The first few times your pup obeys a command when you DON’T have a treat in hand, give him several treats, one at a time, with huge amounts of verbal praise & petting. Pup will start to think - Wow, it’s even better when she doesn’t have treats! He will also start to offer behaviors whether you have treats in hand or not. Go overboard once in a while - pop a can of food out of your pocket (he couldn’t even smell it in there!) Next, start to fake pup out: When a treat is in your hand and he obeys the command, he gets no treat. When treat is NOT in your hand and he obeys, that’s when he gets it.
Final level: Variable schedule of reinforcement. This means that there are 4 possible situations:
1) You lure pup with treat in hand, he obeys and he gets the treat. 2) You lure pup with treat in hand, he obeys and he does NOT get the treat. 3) You lure pup with no treat in hand, he obeys and he gets the treat out of your pocket. 4) You lure pup with no treat in hand, he obeys and he does NOT get the treat.
Make sure you are using your verbal cues/commands, plenty of enthusiastic praise, hand signals and other ways to keep his attention (eye contact, snapping fingers, calling his name, etc.) during all phaseout activities.
Lure Phase-Out Method Two
You’re probably doing this already: Get more behaviors per treat (ex. Sit, stay, come, sit, then treat), and once in a while, when he accomplishes 3-4 or more consecutive behaviors with hand signals only, give a huge food reward & praise. Surprise him with food occasionally when he accomplishes several non-treated behaviors in a row. Keep these surprises up for a long time (at least a year).
Final note: A variable schedule of reinforcement will keep him on his toes and paying attention to you! Every dog is different - yours will go at his own pace, but his progress will improve only if you continue daily practice. What will it take to keep him working for you? What can you get away with? Can you get 2 or 3 behaviors (ex. sit, stay, come) for one treat w/praise? Is s/he starting to accept praise as a substitute when it’s intermittently supplemented with a treat? Can you use a toy instead? Try to wear clothes w/pockets. Jackpot when a command is executed in a truly wonderful manner. Your voice is very important in lure phase-out - don’t be shy and don’t worry what the neighbors think (their dogs are all living in the basement because they can’t control them!)
Written by Suzanne Harris
