Duration Marker

What Is a Duration Marker?

A duration marker tells your dog two things:

You’re doing the correct behavior, and I want you to keep doing it.

At BFF, our duration marker is generally “Good.”

Unlike a terminal marker such as “Yes,” the word “Good” does not end the behavior.

Imagine your dog is lying on Place.

You say:

“Gooood.”

You’re letting the dog know they’re doing exactly what you want, but you’re not releasing them from Place.

The job continues.

This allows us to communicate with the dog while they’re maintaining a behavior without accidentally telling them the behavior is finished.

Dogs need feedback while they’re learning.

Without it, a dog maintaining a behavior may not know whether they’re still making the correct choice.

A duration marker lets us reinforce the behavior while maintaining it.

In simple terms:

Good → You’re right. Keep doing that.

At BFF, we commonly stretch the word slightly:

“Gooood.”

That longer, calmer delivery helps distinguish it from our terminal marker:

“Yesssss.”

The words themselves aren’t magic. What matters is that we consistently teach the dog what each one means.

This distinction is important.

Good = You’re correct. Keep doing it.

Yes = You’re correct. You’re finished. A reward is coming.

If those two markers become interchangeable, we lose some of the clarity they were designed to create.

A duration marker gives us a way to tell our dogs they’re succeeding without ending the behavior we’re asking them to maintain.

It’s a small piece of communication that can make a very big difference in clarity.

And in dog training, clarity is everything.