Time-Out!

Imagine a young dog with a lot of energy who loves to play with his human guardian. This dog is lucky enough to have a guardian who sets time aside to play with him every day. The dog starts to get a little over-enthusiastic and starts to play bite his guardian hard enough that it hurts. One day the dog does one of these play bites, and POOF! the guardian disappears into thin air, and the dog is left alone. The guardian reappears a few minutes later, and play resumes. The dog slips into the play biting again, and once again, POOF – the guardian magically disappears, leaving the dog once again without a playmate. This sequence repeats consistently a dozen times or so. How do you think this affects the dog’s play biting?

This is how I’ve always conceptualized the perfect “time-out.”

Just as we can encourage dogs to increase good behavior by giving them rewards, we can decrease undesired “rude” behavior (play biting, demand barking, etc.) by taking rewards away. That’s what a “time-out” is: removal of the playmate/companion (reward) as a consequence of undesired behavior.

The time-out should be as close as possible to the simple removal of the playmate/companion, as in my imaginary scenario above. It should not be aversive (scary or intimidating). With play biting, since disappearing magically is not an option for most humans, the best option is for the human to simply leave the room (if the room is dog-proofed). Otherwise, a time-out often means gently but quickly removing the dog away from play to a nearby, neutral location. Don’t use the dog’s crate, as that should be a safe place that the dog always wants to go. A dog-proofed bathroom is often a good option.

In most cases, the time-out (dog left alone) only lasts two or three minutes. Don’t end the time-out if the dog is demand barking; wait until he is quiet for a few seconds to return to him/let him out. For more egregious offenses the penalty can be stiffer, e.g. play ends completely for the day.

Time-outs can work during play dates or at the dog park, too, for dogs who play too rough, by removing the offending dog from the play area.

Mark the undesirable behavior
It’s important to mark the exact moment of the time-out so that the dog knows exactly what behavior produced the consequence. How it works: the dog does an undesired behavior (play biting, mouthing, humping etc.). Handler gives a warning cue (“uh oh”). If the dog stops behavior (usually after repetition of the time out), handler says “thank you” and monitors for recurrence of the behavior. If after the warning “uh oh” the dog doesn’t stop the behavior, handler marks “time-out,” and then executes the time-out as explained above. This lets the dog know that his behavior at the moment of the marker is the reason for his time-out.

This is the same concept as a clicker or verbal marker which marks a desirable behavior and predicts the dog receiving a reward. In the case of the “time-out,” however, it predicts the dog losing a reward.

Important! Repetition, repetition, repetition
The single most important thing to know about time-out: dogs need to learn the time-out warning cue and marker. It takes repetition for this to happen. For most dogs, it takes between 12 and 20 repetitions before they make the connection and stop the behavior (and for some dogs, even more). So don’t give up if it doesn’t work right away. And be sure that the dog gets a time-out every time he does the undesired behavior. As with all training, patience and consistency are critical in making time-outs work.