Very well written Christy!!
May I be so rude as to add a few things?
Difference between a lure and a reward.
Food/toy is a
lure when it is out and obvious. This is often used in the initial stage of training. Put food to nose, lift up, dog sits. Voila. Lured sit. Heeling with a ball/tug in left hand or armpit (or whever, visible). Dog can see item, it's a lure. Your weekly/biweekly/monthly paycheck is a lure.....it's dangled in front of you and you know you'll get it.
Food/toy is a
reward if only presented after the performance is offered. If I sneak food into my mouth without the dog knowing (i.e. before I get the dog out) and then suddenly present it to the dog after it's sat, this is a reward. Or if I have a toy hidden inside my shirt or my pants waist-band and suddenly pull it out, this is a reward. It is only given AFTER the performance. An unexpected bonus at work is a reward.
Behaviour built on 100% reward fall apart VERY quickly. The bear who finds salmon very regularly in a river and then suddenly for 2 days finds nothing will quickly move on. The highly rewarded behaviour fell apart.
Behaviour built on random reward is VERY strong and does not fall apart quickly. Slot machines are random rewards and scientifically known to be addictive to some people. They hold a strong attraction, even when behaviour is infrequently and irregularly rewarded.
Two machines are in front of you, both accept money. One gives you something every time you put money in. One gives you something sometimes, but not always....but when it does, it's VERY nice. If the soda machine didn't give you a soda, you wouldn't put more money in and try again, you'd hang a sign on it. One failure to reward and the behaviour is gone. If the slot machine doesn't reward you.....you try again because maybe next time it will and when it does reward you....it's of high value.
So......
When training dogs, you need to very quickly switch over from constant lure/reward to random rewards. I've had trainers tell me "when the dog is right 75% of the time" you switch.
Examples of this in competition:
Heeling attention falls apart mid-way through the performance. No treats/rewards are forth-coming and the dog says "forget it." The trainer has failed in that the dog is used to ALWAYS getting a reward at some point during the perforance in training.
In agility, a handler who ALWAYS rewards contacts in training can expect them to fly out the door at a 3day trial (especially one where they can't get on contact equipment in the evenings before the next day). The dog learns that in trials, there is no reward for stopping at the bottom and leaping is fun, and that tunnel is calling me and buy bye!
If the heeling dog was switched to a random reward, and the rewards came after more and more performance, the behaviour would hold up in the ring. Teach the dog that sometimes it comes after 3 steps and sometimes it comes after 2 minutes.
If the agility dog's contacts were randomly rewarded in training, the dog would never know if something was coming or not and would not come to realize that "there is no reward in trials, ever" b/c if there are also training days with no reward for the contacts......there's no perceivable difference.
Not sure if that's clear as mud ..... hopefully it make sense.