Luring is an essential technique when training dogs and cats. It’s deceptively simple and is exactly what it sounds like it would be, but getting good at it can really take your training up a notch!

So luring a dog or cat is pretty much just like luring a fish when fishing. We put out some sort of tasty “bait”, maybe move it around a bit to get them interested, and then use it to guide their attention or actions.

So let’s break it down a bit.

Bait

The first component is the “bait”, or the lure itself. This is usually food, but it can be anything that acts as reinforcement for your pet, like toys or physical affection. We’ll focus on food here, since it’s generally the most effective and commonly used lure.

Getting Them Interested

The next component is getting them interested in the lure. For food, this is usually most easily accomplished by running your piece of food right past their nose so that they get a good whiff of it (this is why stinky foods like cheese work really well for luring). Saying your pet’s name or making other verbal noises can also help to get their attention, but we really want them focused on the treat in our hand.

Keeping Them On The Line

Now we have to keep them interested in the lure. Again, the smell of the treat will usually be what initially gets their attention (dogs’ primary sense is smell), but if we just let them smell it and then pull it away we could easily lose their interest. So let them really investigate the treat and get invested. Let them lick and nibble at it so that they get little tastes of the payoff and then guide their movements by moving the lure around.

Don’t give up the bulk of your treat until you’ve gotten them into the place/position that you need them.

Tying It All Together

Voila! It’s that simple. Now the fun part is figuring out the right way to lure your pet into performing the action that you want from them. You can lure them into a “Sit”, slowly guide them down to the ground for “Lay Down”, lure them into their kennel, or just lure them away from something that you don’t want them to interact with.

The options are vast! Chances are that if you want your pet to do something specific, there’s a way to use luring to help you achieve it. But it does take some practice, so make sure that you start with easy tasks and work your way up to harder ones. We don’t want to frustrate our pet!

Get in contact to learn more about how luring can help your pet training project!