"Time Outs" for Dogs

[BeachGirlFLA]

Does anyone else use this method of discipline for dogs? When I was a kid, my dog would get sent to her bed when she did something wrong. And although I don't think that was such a good idea now that I'm an adult - because she could have come to associate going to bed at night with punishment...she never did and she was free to roam at night and actually spent most of the night with me, but she could have - my roommate uses the bathroom as a place to put the dogs when they do something bad. The funny thing is that the Lab/Weimeraner will come home from having run away for about an hour (he breaks through the fence) and will go straight there because he knows he's going to be in trouble and this morning, he peed on the floor (he's been marking territory a lot lately.) His brother came and got me and when I went and saw what had happened, his brother led us to the bathroom. I guess he knew his brother was going to be in trouble. It seems to be effective, but I was wondering if anyone else uses the method.

 

[suejai]

I don't know if this counts as a time out, but I will put my Fox Terrier into his crate if he is getting all wound up. It is never a punishment place, it is more his calm place.

I think that is hilarious that your dogs know what to do when they are in trouble

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No because you do not discipline dogs like that, they are not children.

The dog will go to a "time out" however they do not associate with what they did wrong, only what you have trained them to do when you are mad.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

No because you do not discipline dogs like that, they are not children.

The dog will go to a "time out" however they do not associate with what they did wrong, only what you have trained them to do when you are mad.

I would agree with the part about being trained what to do when we're mad except that nobody had even had a chance to show Kody that we were mad when he ran away. I opened the door for him, he walked in, and he walked straight to the time out spot. It was especially funny because my roommate wasn't home and his girlfriend was here. She called him to let him know the dog had come home, he told her to put him in time out, she argued with him because she didn't want the dogs to think that she and I were being mean to them, and I yelled upstairs "let him know that Kody already went there himself"...argument over LOL

 

[Disney Doll]

I never used time out as punishment for Ted but I would occasionally put him in his crate if he seemed to be getting all wound up. Not in a punishing sort of way, because if you crate train a dog you NEVER want to make the crate seem like punishment, but I'd have him go in his crate, give him a cookie and his fuzzy man doggie toy and just let him "chill" for a while.

 

[arminnie]

I've used "time-outs" to train my younger dogs for over 30 years.

It has worked great for me.

Example:
Christmas tree decorations hanging from low branches look to a puppy like you are hanging little dog toys for them to retrieve.

When my dog would grab one I would take it away and put him in the bathroom (not his crate) alone with the lights off (no window) for about 5 minutes. Maybe even less than 5 minutes.

My dogs learned very quickly (and remembered it the next and following years) that those little "toys" were not for them to play with.

This simple little technique worked has always worked for me. I've never had to use it more than 2-3 times for them to understand that something is off limits.

 

[Phedre]

I do use them with my dog and have had success with it as long as I do it consistently. For her I use it more as a cool down period when she gets wound up though. Our biggest problem with her is crazy barking out the windows or at people visiting the house. I've never tried it for wetting issues or anything like that though so I'm not sure how well it would work there. If she barks when she isn't supposed to, she gets taken into the bathroom where I shut the door and keep her sitting in the quiet room for about 30 seconds or until she seems calmed some. Then I let her back out to whatever was stimulating her to be crazy and see if she responds better.

For the lawn mowers, it takes a lot each week for her to calm down about it but they are very loud and right next to the house. For things like visitors it only takes a few times before she relaxes with them but she needs to go through it for each new person she meets so it can feel like she's in there a lot. But never more than a minute or so and she's never tossed in alone or in anger or anything.

She also is 'trained' that it is her punishment but I don't see it as a bad thing. One day she barked at my mother when she knew she shouldn't have and on her own, she left the room and went to sit calmly in the bathroom. IMO, even if it's trained that it is what she has to do after barking, she still knew to remove herself from the situation and calm down, so that's a success to me

 

[ma2jr]

No I don't... I usually block and point in the direction and say out.

 

[SandrA9810]

Kiani, my doggie, knows the voice. All I have to do is say her name in that tone and she knows she's in the dog house. Her ears go back and she looks pitifully cute when she does it. And she tries to wag her tail to make me not mad at her. If it's something bad, she gets shut in the bathroom. But usually when I use the voice on her, she knows she did something wrong and she stays on the other side of the room away from me.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I think the reason it works so well for these two is the isolation. Both of them are VERY social and VERY affectionate. The pit/lab won't cry when he's in there but the weimeraner/lab will and he will also cry when his brother is in there. I don't leave them in there very long because I don't want them to think they've been totally abandoned. My roommate had a roommate who would close them outside all day long in the heat while he sat in the air-conditioned house just because he didn't want to deal with them...considering their water and food are in the house, that was extremely upsetting to them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

my roommate uses the bathroom as a place to put the dogs when they do something bad. The funny thing is that the Lab/Weimeraner will come home from having run away for about an hour (he breaks through the fence) and will go straight there because he knows he's going to be in trouble and this morning, he peed on the floor (he's been marking territory a lot lately. Hmm, I wonder why?? ) His brother came and got me and when I went and saw what had happened, his brother led us to the bathroom. I guess he knew his brother was going to be in trouble.

I can't think of a better way to make the dog NOT want to come home, short of smacking him when he gets there. (Maybe we just haven't heard that part, or about the yelling, etc, which would explain why the dog submissively pees [as opposed to "marking territory"] on the floor.)

It seems to be effective, but I was wondering if anyone else uses the method.

Seriously?

Dog Training 101

Coming back to you should ALWAYS be pleasant (if you ever hope to achieve them consistently coming to you).

 

[AlleyKat]

Does anyone else use this method of discipline for dogs? When I was a kid, my dog would get sent to her bed when she did something wrong. And although I don't think that was such a good idea now that I'm an adult - because she could have come to associate going to bed at night with punishment...she never did and she was free to roam at night and actually spent most of the night with me, but she could have - my roommate uses the bathroom as a place to put the dogs when they do something bad. The funny thing is that the Lab/Weimeraner will come home from having run away for about an hour (he breaks through the fence) and will go straight there because he knows he's going to be in trouble and this morning, he peed on the floor (he's been marking territory a lot lately.) His brother came and got me and when I went and saw what had happened, his brother led us to the bathroom. I guess he knew his brother was going to be in trouble. It seems to be effective, but I was wondering if anyone else uses the method.

The dog goes into the bathroom due to conditioning, not because he knows he's in trouble!

My dog has had several accidents over the course of years. When they happen, I just say "What did you do?" and proceed to clean it up.

The look on his face tells me that's enough "punishment"!

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I can't think of a better way to make the dog NOT want to come home, short of smacking him when he gets there. (Maybe we just haven't heard that part, or about the yelling, etc, which would explain why the dog submissively pees [as opposed to "marking territory"] on the floor.)


Seriously?

Dog Training 101

Coming back to you should ALWAYS be pleasant (if you ever hope to achieve them consistently coming to you).

Obviously, you don't know these two dogs or their owner (or me.) #1, I would never put up with him smacking his dogs or yelling at them. I would leave and take them with me when he's not around if he was abusive to them. I have always been a dog lover and dogs that supposedly didn't like strangers are usually curled up with me within an hour of meeting me and that's been the case since I was a little girl. My mom has stated it as "you've always thought of dogs as furry friends, not as lesser beings" and she's right. #2, considering he's had the one that runs away the most for 8 years and he's always come home, I don't think there's a worry about him not coming back. #3, the "submissive" dog only submits to his brother, not to any humans and considering his size compared to his brother's size, that's by choice.
Right now, one of the dogs that you think are so mistreated is sleeping on my bed with his pillow (smaller than the others and I've specifically designated it as "his" pillow.) The other is sleeping on the floor with his head on a pillow as well. When their master is home, one sleeps with me in my bed while the other one sleeps in his master's bed. When he's not here, the one that sleeps with me when he is here still does that. The one that sleeps with him when he's home sleeps on the floor at the foot of my bed (unless he decides to flop his 110 pound body on my bed with the other one and me...and I don't make them move just because that doesn't leave me much room.) These two are the most spoiled and two of the smartest (my dog when I was growing up - also a Lab mix - was the absolute smartest) dogs I've ever been around.
Oh, and as far as the Dog Training 101 comment...I googled "dog training time out" and found several sites that mentioned that that was a good way to train dogs.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm glad to hear the dogs are well treated otherwise. Many dogs are mistreated in the name of "training" when people don't know any better.

You used the term "discipline".

Does anyone else use this method of discipline for dogs?

I agree with TMM here:

you do not discipline dogs like that, they are not children.

The dog will go to a "time out" however they do not associate with what they did wrong, only what you have trained them to do when you are mad.

Dogs don't think like humans do. They live in the moment.

What does that mean? Does it mean to "discipline" the dog right on the spot? Yes, sometimes, but not in this case.

In this case, if you discipline the dog when he comes to you, he will learn to not come to you. It's that simple.

Therefore, if you want the dog to come to you all the time, you have to make it pleasant when the dog comes, even if he just ran away.

If you want to correct the dog for running away, YOU go to HIM and correct him.

But when he comes to you, it must be pleasant. Always.

This is a basic training principle that's accepted by just about all reputable trainers.

Good luck with the dogs.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

Thank you for understanding a little better once I explained. I don't know that going to him to discipline him would work all that well. I have chased him when he just got out the front door. But there have been times that he's been outside (chasing lizards) and gotten through the fence. At those times, we have looked for him but since what he likes best is going into other people's yards it's not always possible to find him by the time we realize that he's missing. Luckily, before my roommate left for two weeks this time he fixed the fence so it's better than it's been since I came here. And when I thought about it for a while, my dog that I had when I was growing up never ran away...her punishments were always for other things (and they didn't happen very often...she was a very well-behaved dog.) I can see your point about it not necessarily being the best solution as a punishment for running away...unfortunately, they're not my dogs (no matter how much they may disagree with that) so there's not much I can do about that.