Kroki

Question · Puppy

How do I teach my puppy to wait?

The short answer

Teach your puppy to wait with its food bowl first. Hold the bowl, lower it a little and lift it back if your puppy dives in. The moment it holds still, keep lowering, put the bowl down and say “Free!”. Stretch the pause to a few seconds over many meals, then practise at doors on a lead. Kroki, a reward-based training app for puppies and dogs, teaches a short wait of about five seconds released with “Free!”, plus waiting at the door.

How to do it, step by step

  1. Start with the food bowl

    Meals are perfect practice: your puppy is keen, and you serve food several times a day anyway. Hold the bowl at chest height and stand still for a moment.

  2. Lower the bowl only while it holds still

    Bring the bowl down slowly. If your puppy jumps for it, simply raise it again, without a word. When it stays put, keep lowering. It soon works out that staying still is what makes the food come closer.

  3. Release with “Free!”

    When the bowl is on the floor and your puppy is still waiting, say “Free!” and let it eat. The release word matters as much as the wait itself: it tells your puppy exactly when the pause is over.

  4. Add the word “Wait”

    Once your puppy pauses every time, say “Wait” calmly just before you lower the bowl. Grow the pause from one second to about five over many meals; for a young puppy, five seconds is a long time.

  5. Move to the front door

    With your puppy on a lead and harness, put your hand on the handle, say “Wait”, open the door a crack and close it gently if your puppy surges. When it stays, open the door and step through together on “Free!”.

  6. Keep it short and one place at a time

    A minute of door practice is plenty. Train the bowl, the door and the car one after another rather than all at once; for a puppy, each one is a brand-new task.

Teaching a grown dog instead?

A grown dog can usually hold a longer wait and practise in busier places, such as the car boot or a park gate. If it has barged through doors for years, expect a few extra sessions and keep it on a lead while you practise. The page for grown dogs covers that.

Why a wait at the bowl doesn’t carry over to the door

You might expect a puppy who waits nicely for its food to wait at the door too. Research suggests not to count on it. When 67 dogs did a set of self-control tasks, how well a dog did in one task told the researchers nothing about how it would do in the others (Brucks and colleagues 2017). Self-control seems to depend on the situation, so it pays to practise the wait in each place you need it.

Rest between sessions helps learning too. Dogs trained once a week needed fewer sessions to learn a task than dogs trained five times a week (Meyer and Ladewig 2008), and in a study with 44 beagles, a single session at a time beat three back to back (Demant and colleagues 2011). Those dogs were adults learning one set task, but for a puppy the lesson is simple: a few seconds of waiting at a meal, then nothing more until the next one.

Wait, stay and leave it: what’s the difference?

  • “Wait” is a short pause until you say “Free!”, often just before something good happens, such as a meal or the door opening.
  • “Stay” usually means holding a position for longer while you move away. That is a separate, harder skill for later.
  • “Leave it” means “don’t take that”, and the thing may never be given. Useful too, but not the same as wait.
  • Give each one its own word, so your puppy is never left guessing.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting the release. If your puppy always ends the wait by itself, it never learns when the wait is over.
  • Saying “Wait, wait, wait”. Say it once; if your puppy moves, the bowl or door simply goes back.
  • Waiting too long. A hungry puppy staring at a bowl for twenty seconds is frustrated, not learning.
  • Opening the front door without a lead. Practise doors only with your puppy on a lead and harness, so a slip never ends on the street.

When to see a professional

Waiting is a calm exercise. Talk to a professional if:

The help pages list services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland only. Elsewhere, ask your vet practice who they recommend near you.

Frequently asked questions

How old should a puppy be to learn to wait?

Puppies can start learning a one-second wait at their bowl from about eight weeks. Keep the pauses tiny at first and make them longer slowly as your puppy grows.

How long should a puppy wait before eating?

A few seconds is enough; about five seconds is a good goal for a young puppy. The point is a calm pause, not a test of patience.

Should my puppy sit while it waits for its food?

It doesn’t have to. Many puppies sit by themselves, which is fine, but the wait is about not diving in, so a standing puppy that holds still has done it right.

Why does my puppy jump at the bowl even though it knows wait?

Usually the pause was too long or the bowl came down too fast. Make it easier again for a few meals, and only build up when your puppy succeeds most of the time.

Can children practise wait with the puppy?

Yes, older children can, with an adult nearby. Let them practise at the door or with a treat rather than the full food bowl, which some puppies find too exciting.

Is it unkind to make a hungry puppy wait?

No, not when the wait is only a few seconds and always ends with the meal. It gives your puppy an easy win at every meal and helps it learn to stay calm around food.

Sources