One of the most frequent questions we see is how to play with multiple dogs, or how to wait turns with your dog at training. I put together a series of six tips previously for Facebook and am now sharing them here for quick reference for you, along with a seventh tip!
Tip #1 – Busting Myths
This is really a myth buster. Allowing your dog to lunge on leash and obsessively bark at other dogs running agility is NOT a necessary part of training a fast agility dog, or a necessary part of anything. This includes tying your dog up to a fence to go crazy while other dogs are training… not cool, not necessary and not so good for either dog!
You may be scaring other dogs, annoying other competitors and teaching your dog to “target” dogs which can lead to a cascading list of re-directed aggression issues.
While you are training in agility ask yourself if what you are doing will contribute to your dog being a great family pet… remember, our dogs are only “agility dogs” for a small fraction of their lifetime with us!
Tip #2 – Tolerate, Manage or Train
If your dog can’t patiently “wait his turn” to play without being naughty, you have three options…
- Tolerate the craziness… get ear plugs and ignore the barking / whining / lunging of one dog while you work another. This is ok if your dog’s behaviour doesn’t bother others, but likely it does!
- Manage the dog, so he doesn’t get a chance to rehearse the naughtiness. Likely this means putting him somewhere that he can’t see or hear you train another dog so he won’t want to bark.
- Train your dog to wait patiently for his turn on a raised dog bed, lawn chair or even in his crate.
It would not surprise you that 3 is the option I choose. You can check out my blog on “Table Trading” for how fun, useful and rewarding this training is.
Consistency is the key! Your training will be successful only if you prevent rehearsals of the naughtiness, and set your dog up for success with patient training rich in reinforcement.
Tip #3 – Start Now But Don’t Rush
Training your dog to wait patiently for his turn to work can begin with a dog or puppy of any age. Start by building value for a crate (as described in Crate Games). Grow confidence while creating drive for your dog to want to hold control positions. Next, transfer that understanding to other ‘stations’ like a dog bed around the house, or a table, raised dog bed or lawn chair. Initially your dog’s job is just to hang out… alone or with others with or without you.
Don’t rush this training. At first, just build a drive for the dog “wanting to hang out”. Value for a “station” is easiest taught with a Crate as you can close the door without personally interfering or “punishing” behaviour. From the dog’s point of view, it then becomes all about getting what he wants by making good choices! It is a fun game for the both of you. Protect your dog’s confidence.
Tip #4 – Know What You Want
What are your expectations in specific terms? You cannot train what you cannot verbalize. In one concise sentence: What are you looking for from your dog?
- Where should your dog be?
- Any specific position?
- What should your dog be doing?
- How long should your dog be doing it?
So many people think Criteria = The ‘Ideal Performance’ from their dog. In reality our “criteria” for anything our dogs do; for contacts, for their start line and for staying in a crate… is what it looks like when the dog puts in the LEAST amount of effort and WE accept it. This is why criteria at an agility trial so often looks very different than criteria at home.
Clear criteria is not about your “ideal picture”, rather it is the “minimal” effort that you are willing to tolerate from your dog. We don’t have to “reward” it with a cookie… the environment is rewarding it. This is why the dog will continue to do it! Don’t state you want the dog to remain in a certain position unless you are willing to make sure he always does just that.
Does what you think your criteria is, match what your dog thinks your criteria is?
Tip #5 – Know What You Don’t Want
It isn’t good enough only to know what you want; you must also know what you don’t want AND what you will do anytime you see it. If your criteria is “stay in your crate” and you see your dog with only 2 toes in the crate… has your criteria been met?
Clear criteria means any time your dog is performing a cued behaviour you will always do one of the following:
- Reward what you see because you love it.
- Acknowledge what you see and allow it to continue.
- Stop what you see because it doesn’t meet criteria.
Without #3 a battle begins between what you want and what you’ve allowed. This is the slippery slope people face in training anything… not just dogs! Allowing “it” once you means you are giving your dog permission to try it again in the future. Have a Plan B for when you see what you don’t want.
“Sometimes” is “anytime” to our dogs. Remember that clear is kind. If you maintain your criteria you will not get frustrated, and when you are not frustrated, life is better for your dog and for you.
Tip #6 – Set Your Dog Up For Success
The very best way to stop any annoying habit is to do your best to prevent it from happening in the first place. This can be accomplished in two ways.
- Ideal Rehearsals: Always move away from the training environment BEFORE he gets the urge to bark. Keep him in another room or his crate with a big bone to keep him busy, so he can’t watch or hear you having fun with another dog.
- Supervision and Reinforcement for Good Choices: Allow your puppy to watch the action only when someone is nearby to reward him for the good choice of being quiet. Move him further away from the action or out of the area if the excitement of watching gets him too anxious.
Success has little to do with what we want and all to do with how we are able to change what the dog wants! For some dogs “just hanging out” in a crate or on a bench isn’t enough of a “job” to prevent them from barking while they watch you work another dog. Those dogs require an INCOMPATIBLE BEHAVIOUR… something the dog can do while watching that is incompatible with barking. If your dog loves toys, holding a toy in his mouth may be a good substitute. He can watch the action and learn to be patient waiting for a turn with you.
Tip #7 – Build Distractions Strategically
Just like humans, dogs need to learn through successes. Grow the understanding in your dog of what you do want by “training” another dog while the first dog stays at his “station”. You are not really “training” the other dog, as the dog on the bed or in the open crate is the focus of your attention. This is a “real training session” not something you just do when it is convenient! Your goal is to not have the dog waiting his turn move beyond the threshold of excitement that he can successfully tolerate. Your dog will need good foundations prior to you introducing the other dog.
- Start with a low intensity activity with the other dog (such as just walking on leash).
- Stay close to the ‘waiting’ dog to ensure success but a distance from the distractions. Ping pong the distance away.
- Have a high level of reinforcement and a short required duration of holding position before you release the dog from his station to have a turn working with you.
Visit my blog post “Distraction Work in Dog Training: A Conversation Between Friends” for how I set up my distraction training.
Eventually, your dog’s ultimate reward for waiting is your release cue for him to come work with you!
The tips above come from one of the popular in depth workshops we have in Agility Nation on working multiple dogs, where I show how we train our dogs to be quiet and relaxed when other dogs are working.
Is waiting a life skill you have trained with your dog, or one that you want to train? Let me know in the comments.
Today I am grateful for all the fun I have with my dogs when they ‘take turns’.
We only have one dog. We have not intentionally played the waiting game but Prince is pretty good at waiting when he goes with Doug or when we go to town and he goes with us. Elaine
This is the reason I’m reluctant to start dog sports with our dog. I don’t want him to be around other dogs whose barking is tolerated . Particularly n a vehicle. I know he’s going to love agility,having played around with a home made course at home but I think it’ll be a just for fun thing for us.
What do you do with a dog that just can’t get enough distance (in most training scenarios) to be under threshold (to manage)? Barking, lunging, etc. He’s a big, powerful dog (and loud), so for my safety (I’m older), we have had to give up agility. (He’s fine in other scenarios, so this is purely agility related.) It’s so frustrating because he loves it.
Following
If you don’t get a reply here you might re-post your inquiry on the Facebook group with this article referenced.
My Australian Cattledog, like many of her breed, doesn’t like dogs outside our household. She does love people, though. She can be very reactive to other dogs running, and it’s not excitement. We did obedience classes first to condition her to give me attention and do what I asked while we were in a group of dogs. Then for 3 months, every week I took her to agility class and all I did was walk her where she could clearly see other dogs running the courses.. When she reacted I’d start asking for obedience behaviors. Fortunately she is HIGHLY food motivated. After 3 months we were able to start agility classes with her being neutral around most dogs and not reacting to their drive. Shes becoming a stellar agility partner. We also do little self control things all day like sitting and waiting before she goes in or out, stays, etc. Knowing her, I put a lot of time and self control practice in before we started agility. She is a breed that requires 110% consistency.
I need to work on this with my current 2 dogs. I have been very lax since a few injuries over the last couple of years.
My Siberian that I recently lost, was wonderful with waiting his turn In Agility class, he was much better with waiting quietly being his responsibility, than being tethered to the wall. Boomer was always patient, it was the instructors BC that was always barking & lunging at dogs on course. This boy always made me proud !
I need to work on this have started but only for very short durations. Need to do this more often with both dogs.
Gonna dig into this. I have a BC and when we go to herding practice with other dogs, ALL the other tethered dogs are going nuts the whole time, during everyone else’s run. I would be so proud if Remy didn’t do that because it’s annoying. Thanks, will be working on this one.
Waiting is definitely a life skill I want my dogs to know and we are in the process of learning! This had so many great tips and was such a good reminder for me with criteria! The sentence in Tip #5, “without #3 there is a battle between what you want and what you’ve allowed” really struck a cord with some of the things I have been struggling with! I also made a sign with the sentence “Success has little to do with what we want and all to do with how we are able to change what the dog wants.” SO BRILLIANT!
How wonderful, that the release to come and WORK is the reward. Love it!
I really want to train wait watch work with our six dogs. The barking is driving us crazy when training.
having trouble with impulse control during other dogs agility runs, barks like a mad man so out of his mind with excitement that he will not take food. At its worst with faster exciting dogs. usually quiet with less exciting dogs and handlers. If i ask for a behaviour from him he will lay down, or sit but still squeals or barks as he is doing it. i have been playing crate games and rewarding the quiet behaviour with the quieter dogs running then try to do the same exercises with the more exciting dogs and he still loses his mind. Only thing that works is quarantine in the car and only bringing him in for his turnsAny suggestions??????? i should also say he doesn’t make a sound when he runs.
Susan says distance is your friend. You need to be far enough away that he can control himself. Train in another setting first where you’re starting out with level 2-4 distractions and gradually working up to the level 10 of another dog running agility.
Do you have the plans you could share for your tables you use in your training building that you send the dogs to “Hop it up”?
I’m training more outside now and it would be nice to have them to leave outside so I don’t have to carry crates or beds with me every day.
Hi, I am new to the program. And my issue isn’t (right now) with having multiple dogs watch one of my other dogs train. I am trying to get a handle on reactivity in the house. I have 5 crates set up (good grief) in my small house, and have begun crate games. But when the dogs are free in the house and my husband’s chair makes a noise, my corgi barks, jumps off the couch and barks more. When we close our lap tops, same thing. When I open a cheese wrapper, barks, when another dog barks, she barks. When husband is upstairs in the office and she hears him move, she barks. It is getting ridiculous. I have just begun to use the clicker to counter condition her behavior, but so many sounds cause her to bark that it is hard to be prepared all the time. I watch her intently and now notice a subtle ear lean towards a direction, it is then that I click and treat, before she has the opportunity to bark. The more I learn, the more frustrated I get.
Can’t wait to get into Agility Nation!!
So I love all this advice but have a situation I’m not sure what to do about. I have 2 dogs. Bella, high energy, raring to go, 16 months old labradoodle. Frazier, low energy, shy guy 4 and a half years old. Also labradoodle. I take them both to dog classes once a week where we work on obedience, a little rally, and some agility. Just pulling into the place they both start whining. I take Frazier into the building first and Bella is in the car in crate. She starts going crazy and is then so excited that it takes me awhile of walking her back and forth in front of building until I can take her in. She has to be able to hold a sit at the door when it is open. But she does a lot of protesting inside her crate while it’s Frazier’s turn to work. So if I’m understanding this correctly, I should not take her in or get someone else to reward her for being quiet, if she does. What we do is cover the front of her crate with a blanket and she will settle down in a couple minutes. Is that correct? Or what would you advise?
She is very excited around other dogs and people. When working her on agility exercises we clear people and other dogs out or she runs to them. Am I opening her world up too big and soon?
I put her in these classes at a very young age because I could see I was going to need help guiding her in the right direction. She’s very sweet with a great personality. And very smart. I’m in Recallers and working on as many things as we can fit into our days. She loves crate games. Anything with yummy treats.
I should stop writing now and send this.
Hey Juli, you are on the right track. With the love you have built of Crate Games, you’ve got this! Just play these foundations as Susan lays out and you will do great.
Hi is Tip 2 No 2 and Tip 6 No 1 the same or similar management action. How do I progress from Tip 2 No. 2 to number 3 in Tip 2. My dog has very low toy motivation although I continue to try to increase this, therefore giving a toy to hold would not help. I get intense demand barking when waiting her turn at Agility Trials which makes it difficult for me to concentrate on what’s currently happening on course and preparing. I don’t want to leave her in her crate as I feel the warm up process is also important.
It was funny watching the dog shake the toy as that is what my girl does when she see’s or smells that a dog is near by. She’s reactive and I taught her to get her frisbee when she knows a dog will be going by. She runs and finds the frisbee and instead of going ballistic on the chain link fence, she beats herself up with the frisbee. I know immediately that a dog is near by because of the sound my dog makes so I go out and work with her.
This is great but what do you do when neither dog has been taught to take turns and you have no place to train individually?
Hi Darleen, it can all start at home. We use Crate Games for the foundations and then when we have that, we can grow it to “wait, Watch, Work”:
https://get.crategames.com/
Thank you. There is always a gem to be gleaned in these blogs.
Thank you so very much, Susan… these are all awesome tips and all true!!! I loved all of them and just wish many more people would take the time to educate themselves and learn about dog behavior and training!
My dog is a Labrador and just turned 1 last month, How can I use this training to help with my dog, he at times barks and does not obey?
Hi there
In gundog training dogs need to wait for their turn but it’s not possible to use a crate, bed or any physical item to mark where your dog should be. You have a line of dogs and handlers walking through a variety of terrain and stopping whilst a dog picks a retrieve. How would you train the dog to remain calm by your side whilst the other dogs are working?
amazingly I have accomplished this wait till its my turn without knowing it.. Thanks to recallers!!!
Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise 🙂
Yes. Yes! YES!! I want to have this! It looks like working in JOY. I have two older dogs but I can still work on their behavior. There are people I avoid practicing with because their dogs are so over the top, loud and frantic when they have to wait a turn. I need ear plugs if I go there. I can’t last very long it jangles my nerves. I can’t see how that is any fun. That doesn’t matter. I have training to do with my dogs and I can find other times to work on equipment with my dogs. I don’t know how you could make it more clear how to go about it. THANK YOU!
I started H360 Dec 2017 with my then 6yr old aussie and her daughter, 2yr old. I train at home (on farm). When I first began I had one dog on other side of a fence while training the other on flat work. Which ever one was not training would run up and down fence barking. I worked on Hot Zone with all three of my dogs. I then took a dog bed into the training area. One was on bed while I worked the others (built it up slowly to one actually doing PNU work while other was on bed). WOW what a difference. The dog on the bed (whichever one) was calm, waiting their turn. I couldn’t believe how well the HZ worked. By giving the waiting dog the choice of waiting on bed they actually chose to wait. I do toss occasional treat to the waiter. I do short sessions with working dog so they swap quite often. I’m about to start this with two pups (one is going to new home soon) which are 17w old. They’ve been doing HZ, today I’m ramping it up to see if either will remain on HZ while I have great grandma walking around, then with grt granny with toy. The other two adult dogs will also do a session on HZ.
Thank you Susan. Fantastic responses.
Hi!
Pepper loves playing the crate games to wait his turn to run and he is almost always well behaved through the gate to the start line. THEN is when all hell breaks loose! Bark,bark,bark! He has a tough time keeping a good start line. I try to ignore the barking but I know it affects my handling . The worst part – he doesn’t do it at home and rarely in the training environment. Help?
As an agility trial secretary and owner of a small fast dog (read some big dog owners amp their BC by watching my “rabbit run”) THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU!!!
My young dog & I are working hard to get our own routine down so we can handle the chaos of the ring gate but huge help if you keep your dog focused and ready to work with you.
Don’t get me started on how many times I have had noisy dogs left by my table. You leave dogs like that I am gonna train those dogs to shut up and stay quiet so the judges and I can do our work for your Q. AND I am giving the human who sauntered off to see what they could snack on some serious side eye.
I have been following Susan for just under a year now and three of my working dogs of different ages (one was a puppy) can now wait on their raised beds and take it in turns to play their games. Life is so much calmer and quieter now and it allows me to think more clearly on the job in hand instead of being distracted by noisy, demanding dogs behind the gate. Goal now is to transfer this behaviour to our garden training as well as other environments such as at seminars etc. Thank you Susan for sharing your solution to a universal problem 💕
Could you put up a blog about how to train a very enthusiastic dog to stay at the start line in her agility events? She is great at home but in her classes and at the show she breaks her stay. Thank you
When my Golden and BC were just pups, we reached a point where I wanted to begin more formal training. Both had a foundation of crate games and were walking on leash well enough. So I put one in the garage and started in the backyard with the other. And the fun began! It didn’t matter which one was in the garage, the protests were voluble, sustained and … intolerable. With the “Susan Garrett Cricket” chirping in my ear about not permitting the rehearsal of this complaining, I devised a new plan. I set up an Exercise Pen. Put one dog in it and had a pouch full of cookies at the ready. The door was open. For the other dog I had a tug toy ready. Then I played tug with one pup with one hand while tossing treats to the pup in the pen with the other. For all of 15 seconds and then stopped and had the pups switch positions. Within minutes they both caught on to the fact that even in the pen, they were still part of the game and we progressed this to the point where I could train one dog 50 metres away while the other dog waited in the pen (door open).
Chris i love what you did. I have 2 Aussie a almost 3 yr old and a 6 month old puppy.i have agility equipment in my yard fenced off from the rest of my yard.my goal is to have 1 behind the fence and not bark while I work the other one.when you first started you did not close the ex pen at all?
Wow! You got it! That is very impressive.
yes! this is what I am trying to do with my two Goldens (ages 2 and 6 months) but using a place cot. Glad it worked so well, this gives me hope.
My hyper dog barks incessantly around agility training and competitions. Nothing distracts him – not treats and not his toy. I can sometimes distract him by giving him little tricks to do but it’s short lived and I can’t leave him on his own EVER. Please help.
Hilary March 29 2019
Kath March 31st 2019
I have the exact same problem as Hilary
My hyper dog barks incessantly around agility training and competitions. Nothing distracts him – not treats and not his toy. I can sometimes distract him by giving him little tricks to do but it’s short lived and I can’t leave him on his own EVER. Please help.
Hehho enjoy agility. Waiting is the first job at the competition. will wait in the practice area of my house, but will move slightly ahead in the competition.
I and my dog
We pair can not wait well.
Waiting is what we want to train.
My dog
How should we practice?
Hello Susan,
My dog barks a lot, a very lot, at the startline. And it is so heavy that I can not get through him. It is not during the training, then it does not matter where I stand or what I do. It is always before the competion. Is there a solution? Help!!
With kind regards,
Lenie
Sometimes I train them with one outside and one inside. Sometimes I train one with the other one held on leash but a lot of the time I train them together. My ramps are 500 mm wide which is enough for them to pass, but they stay in the order they got on. The young one needs more training about waiting his turn. The old one had surgery for cancer. I do my best to protect both of their’s confidence. They even do the see saw together.
How to start this training with an older dog?
Hi Leni, Crate Games is a great foundation and is suitable for dogs of all ages. The tips shared apply for puppies or older dogs.