In honor of the Super Bowl: Time outs!

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

In honor of the Super Bowl... Do you use "time out" for your doodle when s/he has been bad? Why or why not? If yes, how long does time out last?

I'll go first! :)

We FREQUENTLY put Maddy in time out! Most often the reason is for chasing the cat. Sometimes Maddy will tackle the cat and when she gets <i>really</i> into it (i.e. play growling, won't leave him alone no matter how much we tell her to stop) we tell her "GO TO BED". Sometimes she runs to avoid being physically put it bed but 9 times out of 10 she will race right into her crate herself and sit down waiting for us to lock the door! Because she knows she has been bad! Right now Maddy's in time out for barking at people shoveling snow right outside out door. She has even barked twice from her crate so this will be an extra long time out. As for length, we usually give her enough time to completely calm down and become submissive. Usually she is laying down and halfway taking a nap by the time we let her out.

[Diane Java]

I'm thinking about starting a timeout for my doodle "Jamie". She is 4 years old but will still pee/poop in certain areas of the house once or twice a week. My other doodle "Gordon" chases our cat but our cat usually likes it, they play and chase each other. He tackles the cat too but our cat is 18 pounds so it's not so bad. I don't have crates. I'm going to use a pen area in the kitchen for timeouts and see how that goes.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

If Peri won't do a down/stay, then yes, we go to timeouts. We say, "okay Peri time for a rest" and tell her to go in her crate (which she does willingly most of the time...if not, I throw a treat in it). After 3-4 minutes, we let her back out. She is usually calmer and almost asleep when we go to get her out. This is mainly reserved for times when she will not leave Taquito alone or she won't stop barking for attention.

[Laura & Chewie]

I also use the bathroom for the occasional timeout. I just put him in here, close the door for less than 5 minutes and he's all calmed down when I open the door to let him out. Thankfully, these timeouts are getting to be less frequent.

[Julie B.]

I agree with previous posts... the crate should not be used for punishment. If you are putting your dog in there so YOU can get a time out (which is what I do on occasion) that is fine, but it should not be a bad place for your dog to be. If things are getting loud and rambunctious by all means put your dog in the crate but give them a treat or Kong to chew on when you do it. Down stays can be in order but actually any type of trick or trained behavior will help divert the dogs attention from being rowdy to becoming front brained!