And this is #3 blog - timing.

Timing is everything, right? That’s what the experts say though I tend to disagree with this in much of our day to day; I think that “now” is the best time for most things. But as far as dog training, timing is everything. When and how you deliver a bridge or reinforcement is extremely important. Because dogs learn through association, but we might just be missing the mark completely. You may lose the chance to reward a particular behavior but you might also additionally be rewarding something else that you didn’t even realize.

Delivering a behavior marker or bridge allows you to give your object of reinforcement later. You can even lag when delivering the food, praise or toy. The most essential thing is that you marked the behavior using a marker or bridge. If you are using rewards alone with no marker then you have to be quick on the draw with your rewards.

Marker timing

Let’s say that you are training your dog to watch you on a walk. We can assume that you have already primed your marker so you are ready to deliver. As you walk along you pay strict attention to your dog, each glance at you receives a “mark.” The mark must come when your dog is looking at you, then the reward follows after.

The behavior marker is used to mark a very specific behavior. When we break down a behavior into baby steps, each progressive step is followed by a marker. This lets your dog know that they are on the right path.

I have worked with dogs who had a fear of a hand over their head and had a hard time just learning sit because of it. A hand over the head with a food lure is the normal way we teach this; but with a fear of hands we had to change it a bit. We started with a hand just by our side. When the dog sniffed it, we marked. Very slowly we moved the hand by baby steps and continual marking to get our hand over the dogs head and thus the fear was gone. Not only were we able to teach the dog sit but we also created a positive association to hands over the dog’s head.. Win, win.

Reward timing

If you are using a marker and have timed it perfectly then next follows the reward (the reinforcement). It must come soon enough for the link to the marker to be there. But as a dog learns about a marker=reward they will know it is coming. This connection is essential in using a marker.

If you are using strictly rewards without a marker then you have to deliver the reinforcement at the precise time that your dog is doing the appropriate behavior. And let’s face it, dogs being dogs (smart as hell) can see the smallest movement in reward delivery. Which means when you go to reward, they see it coming and no longer thinking about the behavior.

But as dogs are so insanely smart, they will eventually get it even if you are not using a marker. But, to offer your dog the best chance of success, your timing has to be good. As your timing improves, so will your dog’s ability to “get” what you are teaching.

There is so much to talk about with regards to training, positive reinforcement, markers, timing and more. But this blog is about timing and now is not the time to discuss anything other than that. When timing is good in dog training, it looks much like a dance between dog and human. It is glorious to behold.