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I don't believe that time out actually works in correcting unwanted behaviour in a lot of cases, but yes agree if used correctly may help with some behaviour problems. Firstly a dogs focus is totally in the present. There is about a 1.5 second window for either rewarding a dog for correct behaviour, or correcting for unwanted behaviour.

I went to a clients house that had a problem with her dog continually running away from her, nearly every time she went towards the dog. Sometimes the dog was ok..other times it would just run away. The dog began to read the owners body language, and even if the owner wasn’t going to do time out, but was a little tense the dog would back away fearing time out. So the dog started associating tense body language with being ostracised so then would run off. Now this made the owner angry, so when she caught the dog she would banish the dog for running away. What was happening then, the dog was trying to make it harder for the owner to catch it.. so the owner got more angry. If she couldn’t catch the dog she gave up. Dog wins for avoiding her. This became a vicious cycle. My answer to her was to stop time out, as for one thing I wasn’t totally convinced it actually worked the way some think. I also instructed her on how important her own body language was to her dog, and that her dog was picking up minute changes in her body. My philosophy with my clients if trying to correct a dog for unwanted behaviour and you miss the 1.5 second window, don’t correct your dog..it’s too late.

Its amazing how many people I see go mad at their dog, the dog runs off, the owner chases, the dog enjoys this chase, plus also gets a sense of controlling the situation. Then owner finally catches the dog and goes mad at it.. What are we telling the dog? It’s fun to chase and you are in control, but not so much fun to get caught and you loose control. Next time the dog will try harder to not get caught, or if it has a strong social aggression will eventually turn and growl and/or snap to assert dominance or to keep control, because it doesn’t want to loose control by being caught….. Now hasn’t the owner just created more behavioural problems? So please be careful how and when you administer punishment, even if its just with time out….