time out

[Betty's mom]

I've noticed several people say they gave their dog a time out. What exactly does that mean?

 

[malinda]

This is the way I'm interpretting time out, which may not be the case.

In my obedience class they told us to put the dog in the crate for a a minute when she did something wrong, I am assuming that this is wahat people are calling time out. I'm sure there are many ways to do it but it is about the same as having a kid have a time out.

When Megan gets a time out, which isn't often, I make her sit and stay. A hard job for her as she is still learning the stay concept.

 

[alisonCO]

I seem to only have to use a time out at the dog park. Tucker and Luna like to "tag-team" other dogs. Usually Luna will start barking and ankle-biting. When that happens, I take her away from the action for a few minutes to try and settle her down. I also do this when Tucker is being overly dominate with other dogs. At home I do not use the crate for time outs. I want them to feel safe in their crate and not associate it with being bad.

 

[malinda]

I personally don't put Megan in her crate if she is bad, but I know that people do.

 

[buddy'smom]

I have never used the crate for time out. I want the crate to remain a postive place for Kailee to go when we are at work, not a place for punishment. Imagine how she would feel being crated each morning thinking it was time out.
I always use the sit stay method, and it works well for both my dogs.

 

[Bob B]

Our trainer interperts a time out as a sit then a downor a lay down and a stay untill he calms down. We do not put Boomer in his crate for a time out,we want the crate to be a positive thing not used as punishment.
Good Luck
Bob & Boomer

 

[Cindy and Lacie.]

I have never used Lacies crate for a time out, i also use the sit stay method or the down stay or even "bed"(which is her pillow bed", but never her crate.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Time outs for Maggie is for calming down when she's too hyper or gets too carried away playing with another dog and it gets too rough. Also for the rare punishments she receives for being bad. I make her sit or lie down and stay there for about 3 to 5 minutes until she's calmed down and her attention is off whatever she was doing which caused the problem. Sometimes when we play in the park, we have time out which means she gets put back on leash and we take a walk away from the other dogs for a little while so she understands that bad behavior results in play time stopping.

Always seems to work with Maggie.

 

[JulieM]

Using the crate for a time-out is not the same as using a crate for punishment. When you put the dog in a crate for a time-out, you wordlessly and unemotionally take the dog, put it in the crate, and leave. When the time-out is over you wordlessly and unemotionally return to the dog, let it out of the crate, and continue what you were doing before the time-out occured. The dog is not commanded to go in the crate, it is not yelled at - nothing. That means there is nothing negative to associate with the crate.

When you use the crate for punishment (which you should never do), you yell at the dog, put it in the crate, yell some more. Lots of negative associated with the crate.

Sit-stays and down-stays may work in some situations, but may not be powerful enough for the dog to really get the message. (And if you're working with a puppy who hasn't learned stays yet, they'll be totally useless.)

Julie

 

[Cindy and Lacie.]

Well Julie, you and I disagree again! LOL!