Fading

Question
Hello, I am planning to become a dog trainer and am looking for the exact steps it takes to fade food lures, fade luring motions and add new cues. Can you tell me if this is the correct sequence?

1) I use a food lure to make the dog sit using an upward hand motion. When the dog sits, I click and give the food.
2) After a few reps, I fade the food lure by using the upward hand motion but this time without food in sight. When the dog sits I click and give the food from the other hand.
3) I start fading the hand motion by making it less visible. When the dog sits I click and give the food.
4) I add the verbal command "sit" right before the hand motion. When the dog sits I click and give the food.
5) I fade the hand motion completely. The responds only to the verbal command. When the dog sits I click and give the food.

I am confused about when to add the command word, is it before fading the hand motion or after? Can you please provide a step- by-step process, many thanks!

Answer
Hi Miranda,

This is the order I would use if I were teaching a dog that I was using food luring with, or one that had learned to sit already with a food lure - and I wanted to put the "sit" on a verbal cue/command.

You are correct in saying the verbal command/cue prior to the hand motion. The formula to change a cue (or command) would be to give the new cue, followed by the old cue (or command)and then fade the old cue/command. At that point, either cue/command would work - the hand signal or the verbal cue/command, so long as they were given in this order and not simultaneously.

However, as a certified clicker trainer, I minimize food luring and use cues rather than commands. Cues are opportunities for reinforcement and commands are orders with an implied threat, i.e., "Do it or else." My feeling is that "commands" are best reserved for soldiers and computers, and cues are for performers.

Here is a video of how I teach sit using clicker training:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPterhXB1Dk

The technique you describe above is called lure-reward training. Adding a click provides clarification for the dog about exactly which behavior is being reinforced, but this technique could not really be called "clicker training," in the truest sense of the word. It is your choice how you choose to train, and I can't really find any fault with this but let me explain why I prefer to avoid food luring as taught in the Karen Pryor Academy.

Food in front of the dog's nose may expedite training, but it also presents a slight risk of teaching a dog to only work for a food bribe. Fading the lure as soon as possible minimizes the risk. Food is also a distraction - more for some dogs than others. I want the dog I am training to be fully attentive and thinking, not focusing on the food which in my opinion, distracts him from thinking about what he is doing to earn the reinforcement.

So, your technique is good if you choose to start with a food lure, transition to a hand signal and then change the hand signal to a verbal cue - or command. I prefer, as taught in the Karen Pryor Academy to minimize food luring, body movement and prompts, and instead capture or shape the behavior, and then put it on cue.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!