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WAIT YOUR TURN – working with two dogs during a training session
When you have two or more dogs in your household, it can be helpful to have training sessions where each dog learns to wait their turn, rather than having to fully separate them, say by using a crate or closing a dog in another room while you work with one dog.
I’ve been working on this skill of “waiting your turn” with my own dogs lately. I think the easiest way to accomplish this is by teaching one to station at a specific spot while the other is being trained. I often use a chair for the waiting dog, but stationing on a dog bed or a mat would be great too.
To begin teaching this, I simply treat the dog in the “working zone” and then quickly follow that with a treat to the dog in the “waiting zone.” After a few reps, the working dog gets a tiny bit more attention before the waiting dog is treated again. Then the working dog is asked to do a simple skill, is rewarded, and then the waiting dog is treated. I continue to simultaneously build work time and wait time with each dog, and regularly switch their positions. With repetition, the waiting dog learns that attention to the working dog is a predictor of treats heading their way!
Can you think of other situations where this training would be helpful? Do you teach this skill to your own dogs? If so, please share your technique with us!
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14 Replies
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What a great idea, @virginiad . I think many people (trainers like me) included think that teaching such a skill would be such a hassle. I love this calm approach using stationing and treats. Your dogs are so smart! Plus they look like dog models in those cute sweaters!
I do something like this, not during formal training, when I’m with Charlie & Abbey for walks. After the walk, sometimes Charlie (7 year Heeler mix) would like to play Frisbee. So, if he initiates play with me, Abbey (the 3 year old BC mix) will get in the way, or want to chase him! So, I’ll say “Abbey,” and toss a few treats to the ground in their yard for her to find. Then I look at Charlie and toss the frisbee. However, this only works if Charlie doesn’t want to do a Find It as well. Sometimes, if he runs to fetch it, and brings it back to me, I toss him a treat. Then we begin again because Abbey is a star Finder!⭐️
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My dogs thank you for your glowing R+, @bernerlabreclectus !
I like your routine with your two adorable dogs. It reminds me a little of when I’d look after my brother’s cattle dog mix, who is both obsessed with fetching and guardy about the toys, should one of my dogs foolishly think they could join as well. Roo learned to LEAVE IT while I did a flimsy toss for one of my dogs, then I’d send her for a long distance fetch in the opposite direction.
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This is so good! It’s really important in a multi-dog group to have clear communication like this. I find myself using “wait your turn” in a number of different contexts. In no particular order:
- taking turns retrieving an item – we started with having to hold a dog’s collar while the other one is sent, then progressed to short distance stays, then longer distance (from me) and now we have it so reliable I can just say the dog’s name whose turn it is and the other one just patiently stands there.
- nail trims! My dogs LOVE nail trim time so much they try to wrangle the chance to be first/next… and it would be a disaster if I didn’t redirect this since usually I’m sitting on the floor to do their nails. So I actively reward/feed the dog who is waiting over there (arms reach but not in the grooming zone) while the other dog is getting nails done.
- from Patricia McConnell’s Belle of the Ball exercise… when I have a plate or bowl with yummy goodness that needs a “doggy pre-wash” I position the girls, usually a SIT, then say one’s name and present the bowl a few seconds for them to lick. At the end of their turn, I say the other dog’s name and remove the bowl from the first dog and present it to the second. We go back and forth like this until the bowl is completely pre-washed.
Since I’m not currently teaching new skills (much to my dogs’ dismay!) these are the situations that mostly come up for us… but I’ve also done a similar: wait on your platform to be called to the training circle… reminds me of a lion trainers at the circus. Gotta love a pedestal!
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I love your input on taking turns, @catherine ! “Bell of the ball” exercise…so cool and I remember reading that in P. McConnell’s book…was it the book about surviving in a multi dog household? ????
Never thought about the collar grab while fetching with other dog. I tried at one point while Abbey was little to tether her while playing with Charlie. It didn’t work so well until I tethered her to my waist and treated her for not going to fetch what Charlie had. But my time with them for eats, walk & play and cuddles is so short (only 30 minutes) I felt that she enjoyed a good Find It more than being strapped to me.
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A treat scatter is a great trade-off for waiting if that works for your dogs, @bernerlabreclectus – I’m afraid that would work for only one of my dogs (Magic)… Bliss loves the chase/fetch game way more than food. It didn’t take long to teach, and with two toys, she now gets all the chasing she wants. 😀
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@catherine , this is pure gold!
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Here’s a video of the girls not chasing each other’s toys… it’s subtle here because you don’t see the natural herdy-chaser behavior that is Aussie default.
0:33
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Absolutely gorgeous.
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Thanks Virginia. ????
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So beautiful to watch these girls run and retrieve and not get in each other’s way! How long did it take to teach this behavior?
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@bernerlabreclectus – I answered a little, above, before I saw this comment…
I can’t really answer because I don’t remember. This is a behavior/skill set all my dogs have, so Bliss learned it when Joy was around, and when one dog does it, it’s a lot easier to teach the next dog, right?
Maybe a couple sessions…? But in the context of learning other STAY-type behaviors and impulse control in different situations… it all works together, right? A dog who has no impulse control or formal stay, or an R+ training history would take a lot longer to figure out the win here. And of course now it’s something we DO daily, so the reinforcement is strong.
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We use a wait staging when family come over for holidays so they dont get overwhelmed by 3 Large dogs and now 2 puppies ( whom will be huge Great Pyrenees mix) we also do the wait when we take everyone out publicly, like vet or pet store or home depot, having them wait their turn with the wait instead of stay , stay for us is when I want them to be in same spot till I release to ” freedom” wait is normally done on leash and the freedom is just switching who is getting attention or involvement.
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That’s impressive, @BettyR , and so smart when you have numerous, big dogs!
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@BettyR this is impressive for sure. I’d love to know more about how you taught that “freedom wait” … and if you have a video of the dogs doing it, that would be so interesting to see!
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