Disengagement

How it works

It is the observable half of most reactivity work, where the aim is rarely that a dog never notices a trigger but that noticing is followed by looking away. Several protocols mark the instant attention comes off the thing, and they differ in how they arrange for that to happen. What counts is what the attention does, not the shape the dog takes afterwards. Eye contact with the handler, or a sit, are additions layered on by preference, and a dog who looks away and sniffs the ground has disengaged just as completely.

What it looks like

A dog notices another dog eighty feet away and stares. Three seconds later their head turns, they sniff a patch of grass, and their body loosens. Nothing was asked for. That turn is the disengagement, and it is the moment that gets marked and paid.

Commonly confused with

Fixating

Fixating is sustained lock-on, with the gaze held and the body stiff. Disengagement is the break in that attention. A handler watching for one is watching for the other, because they are two readings of the same thing.

The check-in

A check-in is disengagement plus a specific next move: the dog looks back at their handler. Disengagement on its own requires only that the attention came off the thing, and where it goes next is not part of it.

Related terms