Mmm..
A few points to clarify there Julz - In my experience and that of a great many others, dogs do not generally nor automatically do things 'because it pleases us' - if they did this forum would not be here and dog trainers would have no business.
SOME dogs do find our praise rewarding beyond belief, those dogs are the breeds that have been manipulated very heavily genetically to work that way and off the top of my head I can only think of Border Collies.... the other dogs who do this do so because a kind word is ALL they ever get, the rest of the time they get ignored or they get hit/yelled at - again thats very very common amongst working collies and other working breeds raised by people who do things the way their dad did them and have never questioned or looked any further. A kind word to these dogs is the best thing in their world because there IS nothing else, and it also is a very relevant point that the jobs these dogsa re doing is work they enjoy very much, herding, killing things, chasing things etc etc.
For the rest of the canine world, 'because it pleases us' just doesnt cut it and it wont do. Finding the reward the dog likes, loves, prizes above all else is the key.
Now there is nothign to say that has to be food, for some it could be a ball or another toy, for some it might be a scratch in a certain place or a game, for some it may be the opportunity to do a particular behaviour (one of mine is rewarded by being able to 'steal' something - he does not know the 'something' is left there on purpose!), for instance Nettles dogs are rewarded for complying with her because she sets up situations where they can then work - do as Nettle says, get to work.
But to say that dogs will and to expect that they will work because it pleases us that they do so is wrong and its unrealistic and it causes dogs and their owners many many hours of heartache and frustrationa nd confusion.
The click of the clicker is NOT the reward, it is a marker, it pinpoints the correct behaviour, the split second the dogs butt hits the ground for a sit for example, and tells teh dog 'a treat is coming'. If that click is not associated with a treat it means nothing. If it is but then treats cease to be given, it reverts to meaning nothing. It never ever becomes the reward itself.
Finally (and I do hate to pick your post apart but I need to..
sorry)..... training a sit, yes, using the command over and over and over will teach the dog to sit on the fourth, fifth, nth command.... but forcing the dog physically into the sit will not teach the dog to offer you a sit, it teaches the dog to obey you to avoid force. That is NOT the same thing as understanding that 'sit = put your butt on the ground' at all. It becomes 'sit = avoid pressure on your hindquarters', and whilst that might seem a pedantic and picky difference to point out here it IS important.
If you teach the sit by capturing the behaviour whether you capture it by luring with a treat initially or not, and THEN once the dog is OFFERING that behaviour (because its dawned on him that you will reward it) you pair that action with a word/hand signal, then the cue means what you wanted it to mean.
If you then immediately assume that because sthe dog can do this in a quiet kitchen, he can do it anywhere and you immediately head off to a busy park and start yelling 'sit' at him, you will fail because context is super important to dogs. He doesnt fully understand the command until its proofed in a variety of locations and with a variety of levels of distraction, so if you have to say 'sit sit sit' at your dog, he DOESNT understand sit at all in that location and you have not trained it properly, so you go back to the start and do over, not force his butt to the ground with your hand!
I will never understand (and this is a general thing not aimed at you Julz) why people will cite the idea that reward training is only any good if you have a reward on you..... but will in almost the same breathe use an example of force training, but you wont ALWAYS be able to force that sit with your hand, or drag the dog into a recall with a leash, or yank the dog back into a heel position.... Unless you brain wash the dog to fear you at all times and all distances, there will come a time when the dog realises you actually cannot force these things and when that happens you get a dog who does as hes told when he must, ie you can force the issue...... and b*ggers off and does as he pleases when you cant.
Conversely, the dog who is gambling on there being a reward maybe, this time, huh huh is there is there? ..... has no vested interest in figuring out when you can or cannot enforce something physically, hes way too busy working out when hes gonna get a traet and what is it hes got to do to get it. (and even MORE so with clicker trained dogs used to free shaping at random times during the day/week because they NEVER know when you will click and capture a behaviour you like and reward them so they are ALWAYS looking for ways to earn that reward, eager and keen!)
