Episode 049 - Dog Agility Training Criteria: Plan Performance Criteria Before You Train

Season #1 May 05, 2026

Show Notes

Dog Agility Training Criteria: Plan Performance Criteria Before You Train

Quick Answer

What are training criteria in dog agility?

Training criteria define exactly what the finished behavior should look like when your dog performs a skill correctly. Clear criteria help handlers know when to reward, how to break behaviors into training steps, and how to avoid accidentally reinforcing the wrong behavior during agility training.

Episode Overview

In this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility podcast, Lorrie Reynolds explains why defining training criteria before starting a new skill can dramatically improve your dog agility training.

Many handlers begin teaching behaviors without clearly deciding what the finished performance should look like. This often leads to confusion, inconsistent rewards, and slower progress for both the handler and the dog.

This episode explores:

What performance criteria means in dog training
Why unclear criteria slows down agility training
How defining criteria ahead of time leads to clearer communication and faster progress

What Is Training Criteria in Dog Agility?

Performance criteria describe what the ideal behavior should look like when your dog performs a skill correctly.

Clear criteria define:

What the behavior looks like
How the dog should perform it
When the behavior is correct enough to reward

For example, if you are teaching an A-frame contact, your criteria might include:

The dog running up and over the obstacle at speed
All four feet touching the contact zone
The behavior happening regardless of handler motion or position

Without a clear picture of the finished behavior, it becomes difficult to decide what to reward during training.

Why Unclear Criteria Slows Down Training

Many handlers accidentally reinforce behaviors that don’t match their long-term goals.

This happens when:

The handler hasn’t defined the final behavior
Rewards are given for “close enough” attempts
The dog receives inconsistent feedback

Over time, this creates confusion because the dog learns multiple versions of the same behavior.

Clear criteria help prevent this by giving the handler a consistent standard for rewards.

Criteria Apply to Every Behavior

Training criteria are not just for agility obstacles.

Even a simple behavior like sit can have multiple levels of criteria.

For example:

Does the dog simply place their rear on the ground?
Must they remain sitting for a certain duration?
Is shifting their weight acceptable?
Should the dog maintain a balanced sit position?

Pet owners may only care that the dog sits briefly, while competitive obedience handlers often require very precise performance.

The same principle applies to agility behaviors.

Can You Change Your Criteria Later?

Yes, but doing so can slow down training.

Dogs often revert to the first version of a behavior they learned when they are stressed or distracted. Changing criteria later means retraining the dog to understand a different picture of the behavior.

Planning criteria before training helps avoid this problem.

Training Tip From This Episode

Before teaching a new behavior, take a few minutes to define your performance criteria.

Ask yourself:

What does the finished behavior look like?
What elements must be present for the behavior to be correct?
What steps will help my dog learn that final behavior?

Beginning with the end in mind makes training clearer, smoother, and faster.

Related Episodes

Episode 046 – The Running vs Stopped Contact Controversy in Dog Agility
Episode 043 – Is Distance a Teachable Skill for Agility?
Episode 041 – How Tricks Can Supercharge Your Agility Journey

Resources Mentioned

Maximum Fun Dog Sports
https://www.maximumfundogs.com

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Additional Resources:

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Episode Transcript

Lorrie Reynolds [00:00:07]:
Welcome to the Maximum Fun Agility Podcast. I'm Lorrie Reynolds, owner of Maximum Fun Dog Sports. We help your agility team build your relationship, communication, confidence, and fun in training so that you can enjoy success on any course. In this episode, we'll talk about performance criteria in dog agility training, and why defining your criteria before you begin can make your training faster, clearer, and less frustrating for both you and your dog. We're going to cover 3 things: what performance criteria actually means in dog training, why unclear criteria slows down agility training, and how to define clear criteria before you start teaching a behavior. I finished explaining the seminar exercise we were doing to assess how independently each dog performed the A-frame. Then I asked the question I dread: "What's your criteria for your dog's contact performance?" Student 1 said, "Hit the yellow." Hmm. Student 2 said, "2 on, 2 off." Better.

Lorrie Reynolds [00:01:17]:
Student 3 gave me a blank look and said, "Criteria?" The 4th, 5th, and 6th students gave similar answers. It wasn't until I got to the 7th student that I got a mostly full answer. She said, "Run at speed up and over the A-frame and get all 4 feet in the yellow before continuing." Student 7 had a pretty good idea of what she wanted, although for independence I usually encourage people to add, "regardless of my motion or position." to remind them to teach the 4 elements of independent obstacles. Independence is a major focus in my training, so my criteria often include the dog performing the obstacle correctly regardless of my motion or position. Then I asked question number 2: How do you know what or when to reward? Again, the answers varied from rewarding any close attempts to I only reward if all 4 feet hit the yellow. Having the ability to judge that on a running contact is a separate conversation and is one of the things I discussed in episode 46 where we talked about choosing between running contacts and stopped contacts. If you've never heard the term training criteria or performance criteria, here's a simple definition: Performance criteria describes exactly what the finished behavior should look like when your dog performs the skill correctly. Performance criteria describes how the ideal behavior will look.

Lorrie Reynolds [00:02:45]:
It is the goal you are striving for when a behavior is fully trained. It tells you what steps to take in your training, how to break tasks down to train them, and when to reward. This is especially important when training agility contact obstacles like the A-frame or dog walk. I've started including a short lecture on performance criteria in every seminar. Understanding training criteria is critical if you're new to training your first agility dog because it's very easy to accidentally reward behaviors that don't match your long-term goals. It basically starts like this: you can't expect the dog to understand what you want them to do if you don't know what the correct performance looks like. You're not going to know what to reward if you don't know where you are headed. Many agility handlers start training contact performance before they have clearly decided what the finished behavior should look like.

Lorrie Reynolds [00:03:42]:
When training the A-frame contact in dog agility, your criteria might include speed, position on the contact zone, and whether the dog performs the obstacle independently. You need criteria no matter what task you're teaching your dog. Without clear training criteria, it becomes difficult to reward the right behavior consistently. Take a sit, for example. Does sit just mean that your dog plops his rear end on the ground? Is there a length of time he has to stay there, or can he plop down and hop right back up? Is it okay if he scooches forward while sitting? What if he moves his front legs? Do you care if he's shifted over to the side on one hip, or do you want him to sit in a balanced position? For the average pet owner, it is enough that the dog puts his rear on the ground and stays there for a few seconds. They aren't worried about balance or if the dog shifts their feet a little. But for the obedience competitor, all of those criteria and more matter. One question I often hear from beginning dog trainers is, "Can't I just adjust my criteria later if I change my mind?" You can, but it usually slows down training because the dog has already learned a different picture of the behavior.

Lorrie Reynolds [00:04:58]:
Dogs typically default to the first criteria they learned when they're stressed or the environment is full of distractions. Today's tip is simple: before you begin training a new agility behavior, take a few minutes to define your performance criteria and plan the training steps that will lead to that finished behavior. If you don't know what you're rewarding or where you're going, you can't expect your dog to know what you want. As Stephen Covey famously wrote in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, "Begin with the end in mind". Following that advice will make your training smoother, easier, and faster. This week, write down the criteria for tasks that you have already trained your dog to perform. Are they clear to both you and the dog? Do you know exactly what you are rewarding? If not, spend some time thinking about your perfect end result and what it will take to get you there. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility Podcast.

Lorrie Reynolds [00:06:00]:
Clear performance criteria is one of the foundations of successful dog agility training, and it makes your communication with your dog much clearer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, or recommend it to your friends. Your interaction helps other agility handlers find it more easily. See you next time!