In AKC obedience the ring time may be 5-6 mins for each dog.

In Schutzhund/IPO the exercise is more like 10 mins for the obedience then another 10 mins when the dog does it's down all by itself on the other side of the field while another dog goes through it's routine in plain sight of the downed dog.

The dog is required to go through these exercises with no reward or correction.

It's the weaning off of reward that makes the dog steady during it's ring/field time.

MANY dogs will look like a million dollars when it's rewarded constantly for every behavior.

If the dog can do this with food/reward present and can't do it if the food isn't available then the reward has probably been used unknowingly as a bribe.

Rewards are used as a lure, a reward, a bridge or a bribe.

All except the bribe can be useful unless used constantly and not weaned down to very random reward. If any of these reason come to often once the dog understands what you want then it becomes a bribe.

Betty mentions a instance where Pinkers will not go out if there isn't a milk bone in her hand.

Totally acceptable for the reason she gave yet she explains the down side to the same behavior.

My daughter #2 has a Chi dog and a Pap x Pom dog.

Both dogs have learned that "go outside" is reward worthy only after the behavior is performed EXCEPT for one of my grand kids because the dogs have her pegged as a briber.

Dogs that are bribed tend to develop a "thanks, but no thanks" response when something else looks more appealing. Using rewards that vary tends to not get that as much.

That's an interesting theme! Bob has reminded me so often on random rewards. I'm convinced this is soooo important!
I don't know what method they use in the sports Bob speaks about.
But I have some DVDs about Dog Dancing. You can imagine, when the handler wants to present a Choreo he cannot turn up with a backpack full of treats and interrupt his dance after every exercise with rewarding. Everything must run smoothly.

In training sessions they put a little bowl with treats on the floor. (Of course the dog must first have learned to leave it.) Then they make the dog go through a sequence of 2,3 and later more exercises he already knows well. Afterwards they say "jackpot" or "Bingo" or whatsoever and the dog runs to his bowl.

Although I will not go into Dogdancing I am doing this with 3 of my dogs too. Once the "Leave it" command was solid, it was not difficult to build a sequence and make them wait for the reward. Dogs have an incredible memory. You can gradually build longer and longer sequences.

Only danger IMO: if someone would train always all exercises in the same order the dog would get fixed on this succession.
For a presentable Choreo though it must run like this.

Hi David
My pup is 10 months old and I have started all over again for the very reason you stated. I could not get engagement in distractive areas. I too was a briber but that was the least of my problems. My boy's distractions are odor oriented which makes it tough because I can't see them to add distance by moving away and my criteria to mark and reward was his looking at me. With that being the case his reinforcement rate was very low, I was lucky I got 2 looks in 5 minutes. Not to mention my timing was off as I struggled to hold him in place and not be pulled to whatever was enticing his nose. I wanted to return him, rehome him or lay him to rest. I couldn't deal with him and was exhausted. I don't feel you are at the place so I think your progress will be much quicker. You have already received great advice to avoid the bribing and what will assist you with that is to:
A: Lower your criteria by marking and rewarding whatever isn't focusing on the distraction. In my case it was lifting his nose off the ground, moving his head towards me, or just slack on the leash. My goal was 10 rewards in a minute then I was done by week 2 I was up to 5 minutes with eye contact as the criteria for reward.
B: Work up to what you want by marking the baby steps to get to the desired behavior.
C: This should probably be "A" KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. And break it down to small easily accomplished steps. I like 8 out of ten before changing my criteria.

I think random rewards are the key, after the behavior is learned.

That's what they use in Vegas! All those folks sitting in front of their slot machines, pulling the handle over and over.

They are trained by the "random reward" of the quarters rolling out, but only now and then do the quarters come.

At a vet conference in Vegas, I once won 200$ worth of nickels.....darn, if I didn't put ALL of it back into the machine.....random rewards are compelling!

One of my fav analogies.....and I've never been to a Casino.

I've been with about 25 years with my boyfriend, now husband. we won, won, won and then lost our whole slary. The shock was enough to stop. About Skinner's operant conditioning I learned much later{

Repeating the behavior when RANDOM reward was no longer available made you loose drive for the game.

You've got it figured. Congrats!

Thanks for the explanation. Just so I am certain the best thing to do is ask for a command like watch when you want to distract him and reward him for that correct?

I took him to a large park today for the first time on leash the whole time. Was a disaster. I was hoping to be able to play fetch with him on a long leash but he was such a terror that i could not get him to calm down even for 2 seconds. Just pulling and flipping on the leash every second so I just left with him.

Should I just not go to places where there are distractions? How does he start to be calm in new environments if I can't ever take him into new ones?