Building Impulse Control

[kudzu]

Impulse control is periodically referred to on this forum but rarely is there an explanation of how to help a dog develop better impulse control besides occasional instructions for teaching Leave It. Since this is something I need to work on with two of my dogs & I myself have little impulse control... well, let's say I need LOTS of help.

 

Got any ideas? Website references? Perhaps books with lots of suggestions, exercises, etc to build impulse control?

 

Assistance please! Thanks in advance.

[krissy]

Impulse control is periodically referred to on this forum but rarely is there an explanation of how to help a dog develop better impulse control besides occasional instructions for teaching Leave It. Since this is something I need to work on with two of my dogs & I myself have little impulse control... well, let's say I need LOTS of help.

 

Got any ideas? Website references? Perhaps books with lots of suggestions, exercises, etc to build impulse control?

 

Assistance please! Thanks in advance.

 

I use the wait command for impulse control. No matter what happens, wait means WAIT. Obviously we're still working on this for different stimuli and different situations.... He waits for his dinner twice a day, he waits at doors and gates, I often ask him to wait while I run into another room or upstairs to grab something, before meeting a new dog, etc. So no matter how exciting things are, he's learned to control his impulse to rush over and waits for his release command.

 

And of course, like you mentioned, leave it is a great command for impulse control. I ask him to down and then I show him a treat. I tell him "leave it" and I drop it. If he tries to go for it I block him with my foot, with a verbal reminder, or by keeping a tight leash. As he gets better I start dropping the treat closer and closer until I'm dropping it right in front of his nose.

[FountainLady]

We are working on the "leave it" command with Gus right now - trying to get him ready for his Therapy dog testing this fall. Gus is VERY food motivated - so it takes an incredible amount of self control to hold himself back from any food / treats that is within his easy reach.

 

I have been practicing with dog biscuits - putting one on the floor well in front of him and telling him to LEAVE IT - and when he goes for it, blocking the treat with my hand. When he leaves it alone - and takes his attention OFF OF THE TREAT and looks at ME .... then a shove a little piece of cheese in his mouth! He gets a loud "YES!" and a "GOOD BOY".

 

Rainy is the expert at the Leave it command, she lays next to us when I practice with Gus (she thinks all this training with the new kid is entertaining ) .... she totally ignores the treats on the floor. She knows if she waits she'll get cheese and she doesn't even have to do anything!

 

This shows you how good Rainy is at this exercise:

 

[cleptogrey]

take a peek at leslie mc devitt's book control unleashed. you might find it interesting and helpful.

 

place- going to a spot/place is a good start as well as leave it. but exactly what impulses are you trying to modify?

[JAJ2010]

I use wait and leave it also. Along with LOTS of time. :-)

[Guest dmona]

We are working on the "leave it" command with Gus right now - trying to get him ready for his Therapy dog testing this fall. Gus is VERY food motivated - so it takes an incredible amount of self control to hold himself back from any food / treats that is within his easy reach.

 

I have been practicing with dog biscuits - putting one on the floor well in front of him and telling him to LEAVE IT - and when he goes for it, blocking the treat with my hand. When he leaves it alone - and takes his attention OFF OF THE TREAT and looks at ME .... then a shove a little piece of cheese in his mouth! He gets a loud "YES!" and a "GOOD BOY".

 

Rainy is the expert at the Leave it command, she lays next to us when I practice with Gus (she thinks all this training with the new kid is entertaining ) .... she totally ignores the treats on the floor. She knows if she waits she'll get cheese and she doesn't even have to do anything!

 

This shows you how good Rainy is at this exercise:

 

 

 

All I can say is WOW!!

[Remolacha]

We are working on the "leave it" command with Gus right now - trying to get him ready for his Therapy dog testing this fall. Gus is VERY food motivated - so it takes an incredible amount of self control to hold himself back from any food / treats that is within his easy reach.

 

I have been practicing with dog biscuits - putting one on the floor well in front of him and telling him to LEAVE IT - and when he goes for it, blocking the treat with my hand. When he leaves it alone - and takes his attention OFF OF THE TREAT and looks at ME .... then a shove a little piece of cheese in his mouth! He gets a loud "YES!" and a "GOOD BOY".

 

Rainy is the expert at the Leave it command, she lays next to us when I practice with Gus (she thinks all this training with the new kid is entertaining ) .... she totally ignores the treats on the floor. She knows if she waits she'll get cheese and she doesn't even have to do anything!

 

This shows you how good Rainy is at this exercise:

 

 

her expression is priceless

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I use "leave it", "wait" and "mine" most often for working on impulse control with Jayne.

 

I make her wait for just about everything. She waits at meals, doors and sometimes for treats and occasionally I'll randomly get her to stop on a walk with a "wait". I even test her at times by putting gentle pressure on her leash before giving her the release cue it took a while but now she'll hold her place despite the pressure.

 

Last fall I taught her that staying out of the kitchen was how to get her hungry jaws on the venision I was cutting up. I did so by shooing her out and rewarding her when she was in the living room. In a short time she was staying just in the doorway, I rewarded her for that. Eventually we worked to where she would only get a treat when she was further from the doorway. I went longer and longer between treats and was extremely amused at one point to peek into the living room and find her performing a beautiful sit in the middle of the floor, she must have been sitting for a couple minutes, just waiting. Now she just sleeps on the couch when I'm in the kitchen. I still randomly reward her.

 

Just before the 4th I was rolling bits of braunschweiger (her Achilles heel) into bite-size balls to use in case she started to freak out because of fireworks. I was sitting on the floor in the living room and watching TV while doing this. Jayne was immediately interested and stared into my bowl, but she made no attempt to steal anything. I never even had to give her any command, but she backed up and lay down. The moment she flopped over onto her side and stopped even looking at the bowl I tossed her a bite. She started paying attention again, but since no more treats were coming her way she soon flopped back over. Again, I treated her. From then until I was done, she just lay calmly on her side, not paying any attention to me except when I occasionally gave her a bit. (The same can't be said for my cat who sat next to me and batted my hands with a paw each time he wanted more - you win some, you lose some).

 

I find it important to begin with small goals you know the dog is capable of (leaving the kitchen when asked) and slowly working up to the desired behavior (sleeping on the couch while I cook). I like to constantly test with a variety of situations and make sure the rewards she gets are good enough to keep her willing to hold back on her impulse until I release her.

 

Where we're still struggling is with greeting people at the door. She's made great strides in the last few weeks. I can get her to keep her place and she'll whine exctitedly, but I have to keep very vigilant so she doesn't get jumpy. This is really, really hard for her because she loves to greet people and I've had a hard time teaching the people to not reward her with exctitement when they come in.

[jetcitywoman]

I've found that teaching wait for meals is the easiest way to start impulse control, since a meal is about the highest-value "treat" there is. It's not really a treat but an extremely important "resource", a biological directive. So they learn it FAST.

 

Redirecting is also a good form of impulse control. For example, Ajax used to go bananas to the point of tackling me when I would take down the leashes for walkies. To solve that problem, I tell him "Down" and then wait. He's a dog that needs a lot of structure but is eager to please, so that's working well to prevent tackling momma.

 

There's a sidecar problem I've found with Greyhounds that I've never seen discussed: teaching the dog that "okay" does NOT mean launch into the atmosphere! :

[kudzu]

Much thanks to all who have offered input & examples. That picture of poor, sweet, woebegone Rainy is just too much. Give that girl a biscuit for crying out loud! Here, Rainy. You deserve it sweetie. Don't tell the Greyhound police but my dogs have had to stare at hot dog pieces ON their feets. Oh, the humanity!!

 

take a peek at leslie mc devitt's book control unleashed. you might find it interesting and helpful.

 

I have that but haven't finished reading it. For me, her book doesn't seem to be laid out in an easily useable fashion. (It's hard for me to follow more than a paragraph or two at a time. Its a medical/neurological thing, not lack of desire.) Have gotten some benefit, but only small fraction of it offers. Can't afford to buy the DVD set right now.

 

Which parts do you think would be most helpful? Can you suggest one or two to start with? That way I can pay for just those through CleanRuns videos on demand & then hopefully follow up with YouTube examples from others. That sort of visual thing is more helpful for me.

 

place- going to a spot/place is a good start as well as leave it. but exactly what impulses are you trying to modify?

My dogs all know, to varying degrees & with ongoing training, Leave It, Wait, Zen, Go Mat, etc. Though I realize commands like Leave It, Wait & Go Mat all involve some amount of impulse control I find this isn't enough. As jetcitywoman wrote, "There's a sidecar problem I've found with Greyhounds that I've never seen discussed: teaching the dog that "okay" does NOT mean launch into the atmosphere! :" I have this problem & do believe it relates to impulse control as well, however, in our case I also blame it on my training style. The automatic waits at doors, gates, before eating etc., rather than doing so on cue, seems more helpful for impulse control. What seems to work the best here are the zen type exercises like these from Shirley Chong: Ignoring is Bliss & Doggie Zen . However, I seem to not have gotten this so much into their heads as a generalized thing. Only one of my dogs has really internalized & understood this in the way I want. Was hoping more varied exercises & examples would help me.

 

As for what problems, that is hard to really explain. It involves food & any items they want, counter surfing, returning when called but immediately darting off, etc. All of these things can be trained & worked on in an individual way. However, an underlying problem seems to be impulse control, taking off on whatever just happened to flit through the brain instead of remembering what we're doing. Time & practice on the individual problems will continue to be done but gaining more impulse control will help them tremendously. (Them being the 3 yo hounds.) We all learn better if given better tools & a solid foundation. I believe impulse control is part of that for dogs & humans. Since I have little impulse control myself, I find it difficult to teach it to my dogs.

[krissy]

returning when called but immediately darting off, etc.

 

Would it help to ask for another behaviour when they reach you to prevent them from darting off too quickly? So when they come you then immediately ask for a sit/stay or down/stay before releasing them?

[Guest goofydog]

Much thanks to all who have offered input & examples. That picture of poor, sweet, woebegone Rainy is just too much. Give that girl a biscuit for crying out loud! Here, Rainy. You deserve it sweetie. Don't tell the Greyhound police but my dogs have had to stare at hot dog pieces ON their feets. Oh, the humanity!!

 

take a peek at leslie mc devitt's book control unleashed. you might find it interesting and helpful.

 

I have that but haven't finished reading it. For me, her book doesn't seem to be laid out in an easily useable fashion. (It's hard for me to follow more than a paragraph or two at a time. Its a medical/neurological thing, not lack of desire.) Have gotten some benefit, but only small fraction of it offers. Can't afford to buy the DVD set right now.

 

Which parts do you think would be most helpful? Can you suggest one or two to start with? That way I can pay for just those through CleanRuns videos on demand & then hopefully follow up with YouTube examples from others. That sort of visual thing is more helpful for me.

 

place- going to a spot/place is a good start as well as leave it. but exactly what impulses are you trying to modify?

My dogs all know, to varying degrees & with ongoing training, Leave It, Wait, Zen, Go Mat, etc. Though I realize commands like Leave It, Wait & Go Mat all involve some amount of impulse control I find this isn't enough. As jetcitywoman wrote, "There's a sidecar problem I've found with Greyhounds that I've never seen discussed: teaching the dog that "okay" does NOT mean launch into the atmosphere! :" I have this problem & do believe it relates to impulse control as well, however, in our case I also blame it on my training style. The automatic waits at doors, gates, before eating etc., rather than doing so on cue, seems more helpful for impulse control. What seems to work the best here are the zen type exercises like these from Shirley Chong: Ignoring is Bliss & Doggie Zen . However, I seem to not have gotten this so much into their heads as a generalized thing. Only one of my dogs has really internalized & understood this in the way I want. Was hoping more varied exercises & examples would help me.

 

As for what problems, that is hard to really explain. It involves food & any items they want, counter surfing, returning when called but immediately darting off, etc. All of these things can be trained & worked on in an individual way. However, an underlying problem seems to be impulse control, taking off on whatever just happened to flit through the brain instead of remembering what we're doing. Time & practice on the individual problems will continue to be done but gaining more impulse control will help them tremendously. (Them being the 3 yo hounds.) We all learn better if given better tools & a solid foundation. I believe impulse control is part of that for dogs & humans. Since I have little impulse control myself, I find it difficult to teach it to my dogs.

 

Just to be clear, it has nothing to do with the way Luna(tic) launches herself at me for hugs

[kudzu]

Just to be clear, it has nothing to do with the way Luna(tic) launches herself at me for hugs

 

Au contraire, mon ami! It has quite a bit to do with that & similar Luna-tickle things. Though a certain someone I know tends to reward the particular behavior you mention.

[XTRAWLD]

Wait command works well. Helps to slowly increase the time increments little by little. I couldn't get Ryder to sit for more than 5 seconds, now he's easily up to over a minute (I haven't timed the longest he's stayed sitting).

 

He still wants to jump out of the car as soon as we open the door, so we do the wait command there as well, but that one is much more difficult.

 

We've had Kasey for 6 years now, and he understands wait. I'd be willing to bet I could encircle him with cookies and he wouldn't touch them, much like the photos with Rainy. Clearly Rainy know's who's boss!

 

My obedience class also taught us how to "claim" an object - such that you leave a cookie on the floor but Ryder shouldn't touch it, I move forward and loudly say "mine". This also works for things he would pick up outside and shouldn't be in his mouth, I say "mine" and he drops it. Practice makes perfect. In our class we used hot dogs - so cruel - right in front of them, and had to claim them, but gave incremental time allowance for them to try to take it. Once satisfied, we picked it up and said ok and fed it to them. We are the boss! Practice practice practice and patience patience patience.

Edited July 26, 2011 by XTRAWLD

[kudzu]

Would it help to ask for another behaviour when they reach you to prevent them from darting off too quickly? So when they come you then immediately ask for a sit/stay or down/stay before releasing them?

I can, Krissy. It's a logical thing to suggest & more practice on that type of thing does help. But I don't want to always be throwing out commands & I'd like a way to help generalize some of these things. Does that make sense? What I want is for these things to be automatic. I guess you could say I want them to control themselves instead of me having to control them.

 

Goofydog brought up a good example. Luna sees Toni & goes flying down the dog run to great her. I could yell, "Luna Sit," and the vast majority of time she will comply. Though in reality at this point it would probably take something like Luna Wait & then Luna Sit. She's too amped to stop mid-dash & pop into a sit. At the same time Luna realizes that she should sit to great rather than fly up to give hugs & kisses. However her enthusiasm still gets the best of her. I know, practice, practice, practice, but it's one of many examples where she has the knowledge & basic understanding. Saturday after leaping into the air to say "Howdy" she managed to pull it together into a sit. "Oh, oh, I know I should be sitting. See, I'm sitting now." It didn't take a command or scolding for her to do that but this time she just couldn't do it immediately.

 

Other times, with other people she will flop into a sit instantaneously without a word from anyone but if no one acknowledges this fast enough her enthusiasm just may overwhelm her & "fling" she's pogo'ing up & down. "See! I'm sitting. No? Hey. [sproing] Look at me. [flop] See me sit. No? Look at me. [sproing] Ah, you're watching now. OK, see. [flop] I'm sitting again. TA-DA!" From a little snack-sized dog this is a bit annoying. From a staghound the size of her Deer mother this can scare to stew out of someone. And again there is the whole practice, practice, practice element that will help this particular scenario. But...

 

Just looking for some general purpose impulse control exercises to help make the whole "Yes, you actually can control yourself" idea easier for her in addition to continuing to work on these situations in particular. Hope this is understandable.

[krissy]

Would it help to ask for another behaviour when they reach you to prevent them from darting off too quickly? So when they come you then immediately ask for a sit/stay or down/stay before releasing them?

I can, Krissy. It's a logical thing to suggest & more practice on that type of thing does help. But I don't want to always be throwing out commands & I'd like a way to help generalize some of these things. Does that make sense? What I want is for these things to be automatic. I guess you could say I want them to control themselves instead of me having to control them.

 

Goofydog brought up a good example. Luna sees Toni & goes flying down the dog run to great her. I could yell, "Luna Sit," and the vast majority of time she will comply. Though in reality at this point it would probably take something like Luna Wait & then Luna Sit. She's too amped to stop mid-dash & pop into a sit. At the same time Luna realizes that she should sit to great rather than fly up to give hugs & kisses. However her enthusiasm still gets the best of her. I know, practice, practice, practice, but it's one of many examples where she has the knowledge & basic understanding. Saturday after leaping into the air to say "Howdy" she managed to pull it together into a sit. "Oh, oh, I know I should be sitting. See, I'm sitting now." It didn't take a command or scolding for her to do that but this time she just couldn't do it immediately.

 

Other times, with other people she will flop into a sit instantaneously without a word from anyone but if no one acknowledges this fast enough her enthusiasm just may overwhelm her & "fling" she's pogo'ing up & down. "See! I'm sitting. No? Hey. [sproing] Look at me. [flop] See me sit. No? Look at me. [sproing] Ah, you're watching now. OK, see. [flop] I'm sitting again. TA-DA!" From a little snack-sized dog this is a bit annoying. From a staghound the size of her Deer mother this can scare to stew out of someone. And again there is the whole practice, practice, practice element that will help this particular scenario. But...

 

Just looking for some general purpose impulse control exercises to help make the whole "Yes, you actually can control yourself" idea easier for her in addition to continuing to work on these situations in particular. Hope this is understandable.

 

See but I wonder if the sit wouldn't become automatic with practice. For example, when Summit was learning to heel I would have to ask him to sit before we began and then every time I stopped I would have to ask him to sit. But now he sits immediately when he gets to heel position and sits as soon as I stop walking. I don't ask him anymore... he just knows that that's what I expect so he does it. Same as with waiting before dinner or getting out of the car. I could open the car door wide open to a busy street (I do obviously exercise more caution because I'd rather be safe than sorry) and he wouldn't jump out until I tell him "okay" even though I don't always officially tell him to wait. He just knows. And when he sees me put dinner in his bowl he finds his bed and lays down until I release him. So if you asked Luna to sit when a visitor arrived. I wonder if she wouldn't soon realize that she's always asked to sit when a visitor arrives and just start doing it automatically? I have to say Summit catches on to these things quickly and he's 6 and very laid back in nature so he probably has better impulse control to begin with. But like you said, practice, practice, practice!

[cleptogrey]

"It involves food & any items they want, counter surfing, returning when called but immediately darting off, etc."

 

i personally believe in keeping counters clean, garbage contained and out of sight. out of sight, out of mind. basically we are living w/ animals who some more than others have higher food drives. our bisket container, which is an antique alumnium van houten container is at the corner of the counter. the dogs would never consider helping themself even though it's in nose reach. we can walk away from the dinner table to get something in the kitchen, tell them stay/leave it and come back to a full plate of food. BUT, if there is a chicken carcas on the counter, the kitchen gate is opened so they won't be tempted. think of a 3 yr. old child and exactly how much self control they can have, even the smartest, most cooperative and best...(your own if you have kids).

 

as to the drop on recall. i worked somewhat on it after a firm recall was in place. i also got to work on leave it on a recall. both excellent exercises that we did in class. but the money ran out, so i am not trying to master that,learning things like this work better in class. it's hard,very hard for you and your timing,especially with a super fast hound doing a lightening speed recall( i've been knocked off my feet doing recalls) to call a stay or down.also i found out that felix could not stop fast enough on a recall to do something else. i want a speedy recall, it's for saftey and i'll personally stick w/ the 3 second journey to my feet that felix gives me.

 

classes are wonderful, if you can afford them. i have 2 excellent resources here in westchester county, but basically it's for people who can afford to spend $30+ a session. felix went thru 64+weeks of training. we have a fantastic critter who responds well and i had a blast teaching him. it's the fun and pleasure(on both parts of the team) that joins you and your dog at the hip. then everything falls into place.

Edited July 26, 2011 by cleptogrey

[NeylasMom]

Marking this thread for now. I just discovered a site the other day that had links to interesting training articles, includng a few about impulse control, but I bookmarked it at work. I'll try to remember to follow up on Monday when I'm back in the office (leaving for Grapehounds bright and early tomorrow).

 

And I LOVE that photo of Rainy. Awesome!