Both mind and body need to be trained. All too often trainers say that reward based training doesn’t work. It is nearly always because the body is being trained but the mind is not. The mind must be involved for positive reinforcement training to be effective.
We train a dog’s mind and a desired behavior is reinforced when the following happens.
1. The dog uses his mind to consider performing a behavior.
2. The dog offers the behavior by choice without the enticement of reward.
3. The trainer rewards the dog.
4. The dog connects the behavior to the reward.
5. The dog is inclined to want to perform the behavior again on his own without enticement.
A desired behavior is not being reinforced when luring is used. Luring does not effectively train a dog’s mind for the following reasons.
1. The dog may have performed the desired behavior, but he doesn’t use his mind to consider performing the behavior.
2. The dog didn’t offer the behavior by choice. He was bribed by food.
3. The dog did not connect the reward to the desired behavior. He connected the reward to the following of the food.
4. The dog is not inclined to perform the desired behavior again unless the food happens to lead him in this way. Luring inclines the dog to want to follow food again.
Luring may not train a dog’s mind. It may not provide an opportunity for positive reinforcement of anything other than focusing on food. But it does give a means for building muscle memory and training a dog’s body. It is sometimes a good and necessary training tool. Sometimes, muscle memory must be built and the dog’s body must be trained to perform a behavior before expecting a dog to offer it. A dog will not offer a behavior that their body is unable to perform. Training a dog’s body to perform behaviors is where luring has its place.
Reward placement also trains a dog’s body. However, reward placement does not reinforce food focus because during reward placement, the trainer should give the food so quickly that the dog does not realize he was following or focusing on it. The dog thinks he is getting the food as a reward for the behavior already accomplished prior to the sound of the marker. When reward placement is used, the desired behavior is indeed being reinforced.
Ideally when both mind and body need training, the trainer alternates between training the mind (when the dog offers behavior) and training the body (when the trainer uses reward placement). In this ideal scenario, a training session is comprised of a constant switching back and forth between the dog offering behavior and the trainer using quick reward placement to reward the behavior.
However, there are times when reward placement fails over and over. The trainer can’t get the desired result quickly without the dog knowing that reward placement is taking place.
In these situations, the trainer needs to put positive reinforcement and training the mind on the back burner for the short term. The trainer needs to use luring and temporarily to get the dog thinking about following the food. When luring is used, the trainer has more time to create the needed muscle memory before giving the reward.
Then, once the dog’s body is trained well enough that the dog follows the food quickly, the luring should stop. The trainer can go back to alternating between waiting on the dog to offer behavior and using reward placement while reinforcing the offered behavior.
Reward placement is usually a better tool than luring. It should be used when all four of the following are true.
1. The dog has offered a behavior.
2. The trainer can quickly guide the dog into a more perfect version of the offered behavior as the trainer gives the dog his food.
3. The behavior is acceptably performed but not as good as the handler would like.
4. The dog’s body still needs training.
5. The dog is unable to fix his own lack of perfection without reward placement. (We’ll discuss this more in a later chapter.)
Reward placement should not be used in the following situations.
1. If the dog won’t offer a behavior remotely close to the desire one. In this case, use luring temporarily until the dog’s body is trained well enough that the dog will offer the behavior on his own.
2. If the trainer cannot use reward placement quickly. In this situation, use luring temporarily until the dog is able to follow the food quickly into the desire position.
3. If the dog’s behavior was performed perfectly. In this case, there is nothing to fix with reward placement.
4. If reward placement needs to be faded because it is no longer needed. It is not needed when these two conditions are met. 1. The dog’s body is well-trained to perform the exercise. 2. The dog is able to easily fix a lack of perfection himself without reward placement.
Key Take Aways
1. Both mind and body need training. Training the body only (as luring does) will only go so far.
2. The body needs to be able to perform a behavior before the mind can comprehend offering that behavior. Luring is the most effective way to train the body.
3. If not faded in due time, luring will sabotage training of the mind because it encourages food focus rather than work focus.
4. Reward placement also trains the body. If it works, reward placement is a better choice for training the body because it doesn’t affect work focus or training of the mind.
5. Offered behavior trains the mind. It provides the best opportunity for positive reinforcement of desired behavior to work. We’re going to discuss offered behavior more in our next chapter on shaping.
