I often joke that I have hundreds of pictures of dogs’ butts, tails and blurry faces…dogs move quickly and a cute look can quickly turn into a not-so-good-looking picture if you don’t capture them just at the exact moment.

It’s obvious when taking a picture that timing is important but equally as important – but far less obvious – is how important it is in dog training. People often ask me why their dogs pay attention to me more than them, one of the reasons is my timing. I don’t make the dog wonder if what they did was correct nor do I make things harder for them then they need be – all by using timing.

For example, if I call a dog to me and they come, I immediately acknowledge them – even if I’m not going to treat them, just because they did what I asked and I want it to happen again in the future. If I’m working on the “look” cue (where a dog is holding eye contact with me) I will use a verbal “yes” consecutively throughout the exercise so the dog knows they’re doing something right – and I will be sure my Yes! is said whenever they’re looking at me or holding my gaze.

Some folks get caught up on the treats….and they’re yeses seem to go out the window with the treats. I think of treats like gold stars. If my dogs do something rock solid or awesome I’m going to give them a treat. If I’m teaching them a new behavior – or more likely putting a behavior they do naturally on cue or on demand – I’m going to use treats to create the association of the two items and to make it fun for them, then I’m going to wean off the treats and acknowledge using just the word “yes!”

Check your timing…

• Does your dog wait for you to ask for something 2 or 3 times before preforming the behavior?
• Does your dog preform the behavior but quickly loose interest or get distracted?
• Does your dog disrespect you or not respond when you interact with them?

If you said yes to any of these, check your timing. Ask for behaviors once and wait for them to happen. Give your dog a treat for behaviors you haven’t asked for in a while. And most importantly, slow down. With dogs if you start slow and make things easy every time you’re in a new area or have different people around, you’ll find your dog will quickly catch on and catch up!