Introduction
Teaching a WAIT is similar to a STAY but is more of an active behaviour. They are ACTIVELY WAITING for the next cue which will be to be released from the WAIT. Good examples of when you might ask your dog to WAIT are
1. for their food to allow you to place their dish or feeder on the floor or
2. while you open and go through a gate and then recall them through it
3. while you open the car door or tailgate before they get in
A WAIT always ends with a release. Dog’s can anticipate this release and if they do it’s critical not to allow them to carry on but to reset. You have to make sure your set up is such that you have time to reset. You can use the same handsignal has a STAY but use the verbal cue WAIT instead. If you have moved away from your dog always pause before releasing them so that thy don’t anticipate the release. A WAIT is always rewarded away from where the dog was waiting. It is like using the foot brake only, you are definitely still actively driving the car.
Exercise 1 FOOD BOWL – Placing a food bowl down a good few paces away from your dog because you then have time to pick it up if they break. Count to three in your head once the bowl is down on the floor and then release them with your release word ‘OK’
Exercise 2 THROWN FOOD – Have your dog sit and WAIT for three seconds for a release cue ‘OK’ to get a thrown treat. Note the dog gets the treat for waiting until you release them and say OK at which point you throw the treat. It’s very difficult to inadvertently reward the dog for breaking with this technique, however, limit how far you move away from them otherwise the act of running towards you can become it’s own reward.
Exercise 3 RECALL – Have your dog sit and WAIT while you move just one pace away, pause for a count of three and then recall them for a treat. Repeat several times checking that you can step away in any direction. Set them up again in a sit WAIT and move two paces away and repeat. Then working on a sit and WAIT while you open and move through an internal door and then recall them through the door to join you for a treat. At any point if they break their wait then reset them and do several repetitions at an easier level.
Case Study
Puppy Annie has been with us 2.5 weeks by the time of this video and is clearly more confident around me. She is confident taking food from my hand but has far more drive for a toy. She still won’t approach any bowl or food dispensing toy until I’ve put it down and walked away so waiting for a bowl of food would not be an effective way to train the wait. Her drive for a toy is high though so after initially introducing the WAIT with a bit of thrown food I rapidly moved on to more high energy WAITS with toys and a tunnel. I always start close to her and then gradually increasing the distance away from her when I release the wait. We have a good recall by this point so I’ve not done this exercise on a lead but I found this bit of kitchen works well as it is long and thin. I’ve checked that she can do a sit WAIT and recall in the kitchen before moving into the garden and practicing facing the tunnel which is much higher intensity and in fact was the limit of what she could manage. At this final stage I’ve introduced a No Reward Marker ‘oopsy’ when she breaks the wait.