1.8. Work time, Break time, Off-duty time.

(Approx. reading time: 6 mins)

It is critically important that our dogs are able to differentiate between:

• Times when engagement is required (and will be reinforced), and
• Times when engagement is not required (and will not be reinforced).

When living and/or working with work‑oriented dogs, this distinction is crucial because, in the absence of clarity, those dogs may continually attempt to solicit work, attention, or rewards, even at times when our goal is for them to disengage from us and “switch off”.

Conversely, when living and/or working with differently motivated (DM) dogs, the absence of clarity around when to remain engaged and when to disengage tends to produce the opposite problem. DM dogs are far more likely to develop a habit of disengaging even during sections of work, when our goal is for them to remain engaged.

The reason for these differing responses is that, in the face of ambiguity, work‑oriented dogs tend to default to engagement, while DM dogs tend to default to disengaging, exploring the environment, wandering off sniffing, and pursuing independent activities. For this reason, one of the most important foundations for building reliable engagement with our DM dog is helping them clearly understand when they are working and when they are not working.

This clarity supports two critical outcomes:

• Our dog is able to be enthusiastically engaged during periods of work, because engagement is consistently acknowledged and reinforced.
• Our dog is able to relax, disengage, and shift attention away from us when not working, because they have been clearly told that engagement is not required at that time.

For DM dogs in particular, ambiguity around this boundary is one of the most common contributors to fragile engagement, early disengagement, and declining motivation across sessions.

Why ambiguity is so costly.

In early training sessions, when we end a session or pause an interaction without clearly communicating that change to our dog, our dog will typically continue to attempt engagement briefly. From their perspective this is logical, they believe the game or session is still active.

At that point, however, we have already disengaged. Our dog’s attempts at engagement go unacknowledged or unrewarded. Over repeated experiences, this erodes motivation to engage with us in future sessions, and can also lead to our dog independently switching between engagement and disengagement even within sections of work.

Every time our dog disengages from us without being cued to do so, learning occurs.

If we place our DM dog in ambiguous situations where we disengage our attention from them and shift focus elsewhere, for example to answer our phone, chat to an instructor, or move equipment, without letting our dog know they are free to disengage at that time, one of two outcomes is likely to occur:

• Our dog continues attempting engagement briefly, receives no meaningful feedback, and finds the experience unrewarding or even unpleasant. This reduces future motivation to initiate or sustain engagement.
• Our dog decides, in the absence of information from us, to disengage (e.g. visually scan the environment, sniff the ground, wander away, or interact with other stimuli). These behaviors are enjoyable, so the behavior of disengaging is reinforced. Each repetition of disengaging without a cue, strengthens disengagement as a default response.

Over time, this creates a habitual pattern that is not beneficial in training or sport contexts. Our dog may no longer differentiate between:

• Us pausing mid‑session to chat to a friend or instructor, where disengagement has been repeatedly allowed to be rehearsed, and
• Us pausing at a start peg, start line, or during a judge interaction, where disengagement is undesirable from our perspective but occurs due to prior learning (i.e. our dog has a learning / reinforcement history that tells he/she that disengagement is the correct choice at that time.)

Clear communication prevents this confusion. At any given moment, we need to know whether our goal is engagement or disengagement, and we need to ensure that our dog also knows.

Three distinct states our dog needs to understand.

To support both engagement and relaxation, our dog needs clarity around three different states.

1. Working.

During working time:

• Engagement is expected.
• Engagement will be acknowledged and reinforced.
• We remain actively involved with our dog.

If we need to pause briefly while remaining in this state, we continue to meet our dog’s expectations by either reinforcing engagement directly, or by cueing a durational behaviour and reinforcing it at an appropriate rate.

2. Taking a mental break (i.e. a temporary pause from focused work).

Sometimes we are not ending the session, we are simply ending that section of work. This may be to give our dog a brief mental break before setting up the next exercise, or because we need to answer our phone, speak briefly with an instructor, or move props or equipment.

A break cue communicates:

• Precision and intensity are not required right now.
• Engagement may soften, but our dog should remain loosely connected and available.
• Another section of work is likely to follow.

Having periods of less intense focus / engagement requirements within sessions is especially important for DM dogs, who may find sustained handler focus mentally draining and benefit from opportunities to mentally reset between sections of work.

When we need to pause briefly without ending the session, clarity remains essential. The most appropriate strategy will depend on the environment, the length of the pause, what activity will follow, our dog’s innate traits, and their current level of training. Options include:

• Cueing “take a break,” allowing our dog to move loosely in the area until we cue engagement again.
• Placing our dog on a station or in a stay and intermittently reinforcing that behaviour at a rate that prevents frustration.
• Continuing to reinforce engagement by delivering treats at a rate that keeps our dog nearby until work resumes.
• Providing sustained social contact for dogs that value it, such as kneeling down and offering physical interaction while we speak briefly to an instructor.

What matters is that we don’t simply disengage ourselves from the interaction without providing our dog with information about what we want in terms of level of engagement.

3. Off‑Duty (i.e. the session has ended).

Ending a session requires a clear cue that tells our dog:

• Engagement is no longer required.
• Engagement will not be reinforced at this time.
• They are free to disengage fully and shift to independent behaviour.

This clarity directly supports stronger engagement in future sessions.

Common end‑of‑session strategies include:

• A verbal “all done” cue followed by leaving the area.
• A verbal “all done” cue followed by a treat scatter, snuffle mat, or long‑lasting chew.
• A conditioned “go be a dog” cue that releases our dog directly back to environmental exploration.

These strategies actively promote the behavior of disconnecting from us, which is exactly what we want at that time.

Why this matters for developing and maintaining engagement.

Providing clear cues that define when work begins, pauses, and ends protects engagement in two key ways:

• It prevents attempts at engagement that go unrewarded, which erodes motivation.
• It prevents uncued disengagement, which builds habits that conflict with training goals.

Clear communication allows our dog to be fully in the game when the game is on, and genuinely relaxed when it is not. For our DM dog, this clarity is not a minor detail. It is one of the key pillars that supports sustained, willing engagement over time.