Time Out!

By:  Robin Sockness

My Best Buddy 

A time-out? Really? Yes! It’s a kind punishment/consequence!  "Time outs work, are non-violent and free from fear side-effects, and can be used seamlessly in conjunction with differential reinforcement and management. I vote effective and ethically without issue."- Jean Donaldson

A punishment is something that decreases the frequency of a behavior. There are two ways to punish a dog. You can add something that the dog doesn’t like such as a shock, pinch collar or choke chain or yelling, spanking, etc, which we know is not a good choice… or you can take away something that the dog does like. 

Example, your dog jumps on people! My first question is, have you taught your dog an alternate behavior, such as sit when a human approaches?  That is step one!

Example of how to take away something the dog does like: A guest arrives and your dog is jumping all over them. Instead of adding something aversive like hitting or yelling, we can take the dog away from what it wants, which in this case is the person. Time-out!

A time-out consists of this: Dog does a behavior like jumping on a person, I say my verbal marker that the behavior is incorrect which for me is “sorry.” And then the person who gets jumped on turns their back on the dog.  Then we give the dog one more chance to make a good decision. If the dog makes the incorrect decision say “too bad”, “uh oh”, “oops”, “time out”, etc. followed by the dog being brought away from the human. Set the imaginary timer for a minute or two and then allow the dog to try the greeting again. There is a very good chance s/he will make the incorrect decision again because it takes more than one repetition to correct a behavior. If s/he makes the incorrect decision then repeat the process!  If s/he makes the correct decision, which is not jumping on the human, then ask the guest to praise and reward the dog.

In order to have good success with issuing time outs, you need good timing, consistency, and make sure you are letting the dog know what the correct thing is for the dog to do. Be a coach! Timing and consistency are key. To be effective, your dog has to realize that every time s/he jumps on someone, s/he gets removed from what s/he likes - the human. 

Are you being consistent and have you taught your dog the behavior you want? If half the time the dog is allowed to jump on people, and the other half of the time s/he is punished, the dog will never figure it out, because you are not coaching and being consistent!

They key:   reinforcing the behavior you want issue time outs for the ones you don’t want. 

The great Dr. Sophia Yin wrote a great article on the use of negative punishment.  Here is the link:  

https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/is-removing-rewards-for-unwanted-behavior-mean/

My take away from the article:  use time outs when you have taught the dog what you want him/her to do, be kind, be consistent.

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