Episode #164 Is Your Dog Willing to Wait?

Do you ever marvel at the sight of a well-mannered dog patiently waiting for their owner's cue? It's a skill that doesn't come naturally to our four-legged companions, but with a sprinkle of positive reinforcement and a dash of consistent practice, it's certainly attainable. Join me, Amy Jensen, as I guide you through the  journey of cultivating patience in your dog. We'll start with the building blocks —simple behaviors like sit and stay—and layer on the complexity, teaching our dogs that the best rewards in life are worth the wait. As we progress, I'll share tips on tackling real-life scenarios, ensuring your canine companion remains composed whether you're savoring a meal or greeting guests at the door.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 164,. Is your Dog Willing to Wait? This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hello, happy Wednesday everybody.

Speaker 1: 0:28

We are in the middle of winter here in Utah, but, hey, days are getting longer. Okay, so I know there is more daylight in a day. Technically speaking, that days really are 24 hours, that never changes, but there's more daylight and it makes me so happy. My kids caught me saying this last week and they're like Mom, days are always 24 hours long. Anyway, kind of funny.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Do your dogs feel the difference between seasons? I know mine do. There's always an adjustment period, it seems like, between winter and summer. We spend a lot more time indoors in the winter, I've noticed, and evenings seem very long sometimes. We do more mental enrichment in the winter, it seems, and spend more time exploring outdoors in the summer. It's all good, though. I really enjoy having four seasons. I like the change of it and the variety that it brings, so I won't complain. It is just fascinating to me how we go through seasons and shift as necessary. It reminds me that humans and dogs can be quite resilient creatures.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Actually, here at Backstreet Urmbella, our goal is to help you find success in living life with your dog. We want your dogs to be part of your family and a joy to be around. So how do you train the family dog? That is a good question, right? Let's start with well, what are things you want your dog to be able to do? What's on your list? I would love to hear your thoughts. Send me your ideas to info at BackstreetUrmbellacom or tag us at BackstreetUrmbella. I'm continually creating content to help you on your training journey and I want to know what you are most interested in learning about today. So send me an email or send me a comment on our social media While I wait pun intended for your useful responses to come in.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Today we are talking about waiting. This is something I know you need to teach your dog. Why? Because dogs don't naturally know how to wait. What Like really? Yep, that's true. Dogs are what we call impulsive creatures. So let's dive in. Did you know that a dog's ability to wait for something they want is influenced by several things. Primarily, it's rooted in their instincts and the training they receive. So we can help you with this right Now.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Patience, or the lack thereof, is deeply embedded in a dog's nature. It's who they are. Dogs are naturally impulsive and they the waiting or asking them to wait can be challenging due to their innate desire for immediate gratification. So they basically see something they want and they're wired to go get it as fast as they can. This can present problems. When we talk about a dog living in a human household, can you think of some scenarios where this might be problematic? More often than not, people ask breeders for the calm puppy in the litter. We want the calm one. Well, good news, we can help you teach your dog to wait for things, which means they are acting calm.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Now, first, it's important to touch on the willingness part. Our dogs must be willing to wait. They must be willing to do what we are asking of them. How do we cultivate this willingness? To help our dogs become more willing to work with us and cultivate patience, we need to be consistent with our training and use positive reinforcement. Those are the keys. We want to be fun, to be around right. We want our dog to think of us as a treat, not a threat. Teaching a dog to wait involves creating a structured environment, so we set them up for success and we encourage self-control.

Speaker 1: 3:44

I like to begin with basic behaviors like sit and stay, gradually building up to more extended periods that I'm asking the dog to wait. Now we do this in the beginning one second at a time. I ask my puppy to sit, I pay them, count to one, pay them again, count to two, pay them again, count to three, pay them again, and so on. Once I work up to 20 seconds with a dog, they seem to catch on that holding still is what I'm wanting. Then I start to double and triple the time until eventually my dogs can hold still for hours. Now that would be in a down position. I would never ask my dog to sit for hours. It's not super comfortable for them and of course, when they're ready to lay down I would let them. We want them to be comfortable. So if you have no need for your dog to hold a down position for hours, then you don't need to work up to hours. You may only say you know what, if my dog would just hold still for five to 10 minutes, that's great. Then we work to five to 10 minutes.

Speaker 1: 4:39

So pay attention to what you want your dog to do specifically for different scenarios and train for that. For example, if you want your dog to chill while you eat dinner, work up to the duration of your dinner time. Now with duration, start, like I mentioned, with those short intervals and we just incrementally increase the time as your dog becomes more comfortable. I like to reinforce that good behavior with treats, praise their food, releasing them and playing their favorite game is awesome, but we want to reinforce the positive association with waiting patiently. Remember they don't think that waiting will bring good things. We want to show them. Did you know that actually, if you wait for that, good things happen. Now maybe your dog is getting really good at waiting when things are calm around the home. But what about when life happens and distractions are present? Waiting distractions during training is really important for real world scenarios. We want to introduce various stimuli gradually, such as noises, toys, other pets, while reinforcing the waiting behavior. This will help our dog learn to focus on cues amidst potential distractions.

Speaker 1: 5:42

For specific scenarios like waiting at the door, incorporate door etiquette into training sessions. I like to think what do I want that to look like? What do I want the situation to look like? What do I want my dog to do? I use cues like wait or a stay before opening the door and reward my dog's willingness to comply. I also like to teach people how to get their dog to go to a mat or a spot or a place right Maybe a favorite chair in that room. The dog hears the knock on the door. That's the cue to go, get on the chair and wait until released.

Speaker 1: 6:12

So we want to practice these things, obviously setting our dogs up for success. I'm not going to imagine that I can teach my dog to wait in a quiet room with no distractions and then the doorbell is going to ring and I'm going to immediately be able to get great behavior of the dog sitting on the chair, waiting and not getting off in the midst of this great distraction. That's really tempting and exciting. So we want to make sure that we have the end all goal in mind and then break that behavior down into small successful steps for our dog and practice that they are successful. They get rewarded and praised for accomplishing each little step all the way up to the final behavior, which takes time. So in the meantime we manage right. We use a leash, we use a crate, we use a baby gate or a pen. When that doorbell rings or a knock comes, we manage and then, when we have time, we train and work on better behavior until finally the trigger can happen, like the door, the door knock or the bell, and the dog can do the final behavior.

Speaker 1: 7:09

I might also use a weight during meal time. Maybe I would like my dog to lie down in the kitchen on a mat or under the table and chill out while we eat dinner. So using the weight cue can signal to my dog it's time for you to be still while we eat Now. Greeting guests is another situation where patients is vital. We teach our dogs to wait calmly, either sitting or standing, until I signal it's okay to approach. I like to use the cue, say hi. So when I say that my dog knows, oh, I can go now over to that person and greet them, but I expect them to wait to do so until I cue them that it's okay to do so Now.

Speaker 1: 7:44

Being consistent is key in reinforcing these behaviors and helping our dog understand what's being expected of them. We teach you how to work through these specific skills in our classes and courses here at Baxter and Bella. So if you need help, please let us know. Please reach out and ask. We are happy to coach you through these things. After all, our goal is for you to be successful. So think what do I want my dog to do? Then reach out to us and let us help you get there.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Your dog's ability to wait can be enhanced through patient, consistent training that gradually challenges and reinforces your dog's self control. Remember, they come with zero patients. They're just not born with it. So we have to teach them. And we teach them, as I mentioned, second by second. So they wait for one second, they get rewarded. They wait for two seconds they get rewarded. We build that up to that 20 seconds.

Speaker 1: 8:33

Then we can start adding in the distractions and the distance and longer durations to make it more difficult for our dogs, but also doing it carefully such that that difficulty's not too much for them. We don't want our dogs to be frustrated or give up or not like training. We want training to be fun and engaging to them. So we help them win, with lots of little successes along the way to our final goal of the end all behavior by understanding and working with our dogs natural instincts, we can help our dogs develop the patients needed to wait patiently at the door, lay down under the table for meal times and when greeting guests, you guys go give your dog a big high five from me. Have a great week and happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site BaxterAndBellacom to contact me.