• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

dogsnet.com

The Wonderful World Of Dogs

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BREEDS
  • COMPARE
  • TRAINING
    • FOUNDATION SKILLS
    • PUPPY PARENTING
  • SCIENCE
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BREEDS
  • COMPARE
  • TRAINING
    • FOUNDATION SKILLS
    • PUPPY PARENTING
  • SCIENCE

Latency In Dog Training

You are here: Home / Training / Latency In Dog Training

April 8, 2019 By //  by Pippa Mattinson Leave a Comment

Latency In Dog Training
Sitting wolfhound in the park

This article is part of our ‘language of behavior’ series.

This is where we look at some of the terminology involved in dog training, work out what is useful, and try to make sense of it all

You’ll most likely hear dog trainers talk about latency as something to get rid of or decrease.

That’s because latency is the gap between you delivering a ‘cue’ and your dog’s response.

Getting a sharp response

If you say ‘sit’ to your dog, and he always sits immediately, you don’t have a problem with latency. At least, not with your sit.

If you say ‘come’ to your dog and he bounds towards you without hesitation, you don’t have a problem with latency in your recall either.

Removing latency is all about removing that gap.

Getting rid of delays, reducing the space between cue and response to the absolute minimum so that we have a nice ‘sharp’ reaction to our cues.

Isn’t That Just Speed?

Latency is not the same as speed.   That’s because latency is about the gap between a cue and the moment that the dog begins to respond.

Not about the time he takes to carry out that response and complete it.

If you give your recall whistle and your dog begins to come towards you immediately, even if he strolls towards you unbearably slowly, you don’t have a problem with latency

In this case, you have a problem with speed. But we’ll look at that in a different article.

If you give your recall whistle and your dog finishes sniffing a leaf or just stands there wagging his tail for five seconds before obliging with a response, you have a latency issue

Dealing With Latency

To reduce latency, we need to reinforce responses with less latency and omit reinforcements for responses with greater latency. But this can be difficult to judge.

So it’s a good idea to look at ways of measuring latency.

A simple way to do this is to count in your head whilst awaiting a response from the dog.

You can count the seconds (one thousand, two thousand, etc) between giving a cue and pressing your clicker to mark the start of the response.

Once you have figured out the range of latency durations that the dog is currently offering, you can begin to address the problem by refusing to mark and reward the longest gaps.

And by only reinforcing responses with shorter latency.

Like any other aspect of training, it’s important not to demand too much, too soon.  Reduce the gaps gradually.

Fluent Behaviors

Our aim in dog training is to have a dog perform a behavior fluently. Latency is just one of the three components of ‘fluency’ in trained behaviors.

The other two are ‘precision’ and ‘speed’ and we’ll be looking at those in a later article

Don’t forget to join our email list in order to have our latest articles delivered free to your inbox!

Free Training Tips

Get Pippa's free dog training tips delivered to your inbox 

Filed Under: Training

Previous Post: «Three golden retrievers on the beach How to Teach a Dog to Stay
Next Post: Deer Head Chihuahua – Pros and Cons of the Longer Muzzle deer head chihuahua»

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

ONLINE TRAINING COURSE

Foundation Skills

Be Your Dog's Best Teacher!

ONLINE TRAINING COURSE

Puppy Parenting

Raise Your Puppy Right!

what is a dog run used for

What Is A Dog Run Used For?

what is a therapy dog

What is a Therapy Dog?

why are dogs reactive

Why Are Dogs Reactive?

settling a rescue dog at night

Settling A Rescue Dog At Night

why do puppies sit on your feet

Why Do Puppies Sit On Your Feet?

why do puppies scratch the carpet

Why Do Puppies Scratch The Carpet?

puppy growling

Why Do Puppies Growl?

why do puppies wake so early in the morning

Why Do Puppies Wake So Early In The Morning?

sleeping yellow labrador puppy

Force Free Dog Training

why do german shepherd puppies bite so much

Why Do German Shepherd Puppies Bite So Much?

why do puppies cry at night

Why Do Puppies Cry At Night – How To Restore The Peace

puppy ripping up puppy pee pad

Why Do Puppies Rip Up Wee Wee Pads?

are teddy bear dogs easy to train

Are Teddy Bear Dogs Easy To Train?

what is a halti

What Is A Halti? The Pros And Cons Of The Halti Head Harness

dog spray bottle

Can You Use A Spray Bottle To Train A Dog?

chocolate lab puppy jumping up and down

Puppy Jumping Up And Down

young woman patting labrador

How To Train A Dog To Be Gentle

dog shock collar

Dog Shock Collar – New Research Adds To Evidence That They Don’t Work

Dogsnet is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk Dogsnet is also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
View Privacy Policy
This site uses cookies: Find out more.