Food as a crutch

When I first start training a dog to heel as a young puppy, I always use food. Actually, I use food for quite a while to develop muscle memory for a desired head position. But everyone knows that the food has to go away eventually. You may still reward with food, but the food can no longer be visible to the dog as a lure.

In times of pressure or stress, if you continually bring the cookie back out, the dog will never be able heel properly.

Examples:

• Your dog is off of a cookie lure, and while at a match, the dog gets stressed. You immediately pull the cookie out of your pocket and put it on your dog’s nose. 
• During a training class, your dog starts to give you less effort than you would like, so you pull out the cookie and put it in your hand. 
• You are getting ready to go into the show ring and you HAVE to keep cookies in your hand before going into the ring. Your thought process is that you need to keep your dog’s attitude up while waiting your turn. 

If you continue to pull out a cookie when your dog (or you) starts to wilt under pressure or stress, you have turned that piece of food into a crutch. 

Teach your dog to work through their stressors without bringing a cookie back out. This is only masking the underlying problem....a lack of confidence, a lack of commitment or a lack of understanding. Work on building and maintaining drive in all types of conditions. Reward the dog profusely when he gives you effort during difficult situations, even if the overall look is not what you want for the ring. Your reward should be something that your dog finds valuable, whether it be a toy, food or hands on praise. Better yet, teach your dog that all three things are high value rewards. 

Train hard. Play harder.

Shannon