By Abby Huxtable
Drop a treat to get their noses down. As they finish eating it, begin to move away from them.
Call ‘let’s go’ and offer a food or toy lure. Remember to be excited and happy. As they catch you up, mark & release the lure.
You can drop the lure to the floor as their reward to set up the next ‘let’s go’, or have a play with your toy, then drop your treat to set up the next turn.
Repeat.
Progressions: Reduce the lure. Just use voice or hand, and reward when they reach you from your pocket or other hand. This can also sometimes be praise or toys.
Move further away before you call ‘let’s go’.
Use ‘let’s go’ before they finish eating, so you are calling them away from the food. This is very hard so you may need to proof the previous steps more first.
Use the ‘let’s go’ away from a toy.
Do random direction changes so they can come to you in any direction.
Apply when out on walks. The cue can be applied to smells, food, other dogs, or people.
If your dog goes off lead, use the cue when off lead too.
Adaptions: You may need more repetitions of the cue words with the movement and lures, all at the same time to make the association of the word with the action stronger.
Then reduce the lure.
Then add the duration between the cue and the reward.
Use a long line if not totally off lead to proof further (distance).