Responding Quickly comes after Mastering the Lights, and is designed to encourage your dog to press a second touchpad correctly before too much time passes. After pressing the lit button, the lights will change and a new pad lights up. Your dog must press the button within a certain time frame in order to get a reward. It starts off relatively easy, allowing 30 seconds for the second press. As your dog progresses, the window of opportunity will get shorter and shorter!
Responding Quickly also introduces the notion of a “request to play”. The second part of each puzzle is not revealed until the first request is completed. There isn't a time limit for responding to the first touchpad, but the second touch is a whole ‘nother story. Too slow? That’s incorrect!
This challenge encourages your pup to consider a new strategy to earn a reward. In previous challenges, it wasn't necessary for dogs to stay focused on the Hub after each touchpad press, and some pups may not be used to considering which button to press when they're already right in front of the buttons, rather than viewing their options as they approach from a distance.
Mollie the Coton de Tulears is naturally fast and focused. He won’t really need to change his behavior much — to level up he'll just have to prove to the system that he's consistently fast enough.
Other pups may be used to pressing the button once, and then taking a lap around the coffee table after getting a reward. This used to be a good strategy — a way to stay occupied while waiting for the next opportunity to play. Dogs in this habit will now have to change their behavior, and it may take some time to learn that response time matters. To encourage your dog to stay engaged, you may consider adding some high-value treats into the mix, or providing some gentle encouragement to stay on task, at least at first!
Some dogs are naturally fast, and can race through this challenge in a day, while it may take other pups a week or two to get the hang of it.
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