Dog Obedience Training -Shaping vs Luring
There are two basic methods used in training dog obedience. Shaping and luring. Shaping is usually linked with the click and treat, or positive reward, training system.
Shaping a dog to do particular activities produces a dog that will think for itself. If you could read a dogs mind, a shaped dog will be saying "How do I get that treat. What do I need to do? Let's try this. No. Let's try that. No. Maybe this will work"
A dog that has been taught solely by luring would be saying "Without any food in that hand I will not be doing a damb thing. Forget it buddy."
Whilst lure training will produce faster results, shaping will produce a more solid action that the dog will perform anywhere, anytime, on command. Sometimes, a particular action might require a mixture of luring and shaping with the lure being faded very quickly.
Teaching a dog to walk on a loose lead is one such dog training exercise. In this exercise you would start with a very young puppy and, with a tasty treat in one hand, you would lure the puppy into following the food, giving him a small treat every couple of paces. Soon enough you will be able to walk briskly with the dog's nose following the hand with the food in it.
If you do not put food in that hand the dog will now start walking wide or ahead of you. This is where you start bringing in the shaping part of the exercise.
As soon as you have no treats in your hand and the dog starts moving away from you, you stop dead in your tracks and wait for the dog to look at you. As soon as he does you click and treat.
Start walking again, with food in the hand. As soon as the food is finished and the dog stretches the lead, stop, wait for the look, click and treat.
If the dog starts to turn his head as soon as you stop with a tight lead, hold off the click and treat until he steps back towards you.
Keep repeating the exercise, all the time waiting for the dog to come back to you and, eventually, with some patience, you will have the dog walking on a loose lead.
If you choose to teach the dog to walk on a loose lead using shaping only, it may take you some time to walk from the front door to the gate, but it will ensure your dog will work close to you without the need to constantly remind him where he should be by luring him back to heel.
Generally though, if you break an exercise down into very small steps, shaping alone will work with a bit of patience. You must learn to break it down and not chunk it. Slowly slowly.
Tricks like riding a skateboard, or crawling with the belly on the ground, or rolling over, playing dead, hand shaking or high fives can all be shaped. You could probably teach a dog to cook breakfast if you could stop him eating it as well before he brought it to you in bed.
About the Author
Nev Allen is a dog trainer with 30 years of experience and he is now sharing this experience to help you make your puppy a good, happy and well trained obedient dog.
Visit my blog
for more detailed dog obedience training and clicker training articles.
English National Sheepdog Trials 2007 - Thomas Longton
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