Luring with food for the perfect picture can be better than using food as a reward for a behavior done semi-correctly, especially when mistakes still happen routinely and behavior isn’t cemented yet. Instead of leaving it up to the dog (in early stages of learning) to make the mistake, proactively show the correct picture through the use of a food lure. EVERY TIME.
When we work with a dog who is highly food motivated, luring with food right on the dog’s nose helps make our dog be and do EXACTLY what we want and where we want it. This makes muscle memory free of bad habits.
Additionally, if a dog is highly motivated by food, and we dangle food in front of our dogs, anything less than a perfect picture is truly unacceptable. The price of using food as a lure is the insistence for the perfect picture.
We either use the food as assistance to position dogs exactly how we like or we don’t have the food out as assistance and truly pay as a reward (not a lure). Anything in between is not effective, makes the obedience look sloppy, extends the learning process, and will not drive optimal results.
