5 Ways to Increase Your Dogs Impulse Control
How attentive is your dog? Whether you realize it or not you’re probably already the center of his universe — at least until a squirrel runs by.
Trying to keep your dog’s attention when a squirrel runs by is something all of us have struggled with, but luckily working on your dog’s attention span and focus (or lack thereof) is something that can always be improved upon. It’s called increasing your dog’s impulse control, and it’s an important part of teaching your dog good manners.
And you’ll notice that once you start working on your dog’s impulse control everything will start to get a little easier, from teaching them new tricks to going for your daily walk. Teaching your dog good impulse control is a big part of having a well behaved dog. Here’s 5 ways to increase your dog’s impulse control.
What is Impulse Control in Dogs?
Impulse control is the ability to resist urges and impulses. If you’ve ever watched a dog doing agility and wondered how on earth they’re able to concentrate and run through all those obstacles while there’s a bunch of barking dogs on the sidelines it’s because they have excellent impulse control.
On the other hand a lack of impulse control leads to dogs doing things without thinking about the consequences. If your dog rushes through the front door anytime you open it they’re exhibiting a lack of impulse control. The same goes if your dog jumps all over your guests. We tend to call dogs that have poor impulse control pushy and impatient, but in most cases it’s just due to a lack of training.
Dogs aren’t born with what we consider good manners, just like nearly everything else they have to be taught. And like any other behavior you can improve your dogs impulse control through training & consistency.
But just like we teach our toddlers, who share a similar weakness for giving in to temptations, we can also teach Rex and Sadie that patience, calm and polite behaviors are more effective in getting what they want than jumping, pushing, pawing or barking. – Impulse Control: The 6 Keys to Teaching Dogs Calm & Polite Behavior
Dogs Need to Learn Impulse Control
If you’re raising a puppy or teenage dog you already know how challenging it can be. Puppies aren’t exactly known for their amazing attention spans. And when they hit adolescence it’s like they suddenly wake up one day and forgot everything — they stop listening to us and start acting on their own impulses.
Luckily practicing impulse control with your dog can help. And trust me when I say this — great focus & impulse control will make all of your training so much easier.
Have you seen those agility trials where those dogs are constantly focused on their handler? I used to watch those shows and wonder in the world they were able to get that sort of focus from their dogs.
Turns out any of us can get that sort of attention — it just takes consistency and practice.
So you want to teach your dog better manners? It all starts with impulse control. Here’s 5 ways to increase your dogs impulse control that you can do today.
Is Your Dog Easily Distracted?
When it’s time to train your dog do you find yourself competing for his attention? Does your dog get easily distracted by other dogs or people? Does he go off and follow his nose rather than listen to you? Is he get overly excited by any noise or movement?
If you answered yes to any of the above working on impulse control work will benefit both you and your dog. Having your dog focused and attentive to your commands will make all of your future training sessions easier. It all starts with a good foundation built on trust, focus, and lots of impulse control work
Start With Realistic Goals For Your Dog
Imagine yourself at the dog park with Fido on a nice summer day. When you open that gate I bet your dog is interested in everything but you.
For most of us dog owners having great focus while surrounded by such chaos doesn’t seem obtainable, it actually seems impossible. It’s something only advanced dog owners do; they’ve even got dog training classes specifically for that purpose.
While it’s certainly not easy it is obtainable. If you start with realistic goals and build on your success you can have an attentive dog in those sorts of situations as well. But like many other great things in life it’s not quick, it’s not easy, and it takes a lot of hard work.
Since my own dog is reactive a trip to the dog park isn’t going to happen, I needed something more realistic for the both of us.
How Impulse Control Makes Dog Training Easier
Once your dog has great focus & impulse control all of your training goals will be much easier to accomplish. Many of my dog’s problems had to do with our daily dog walk, so instead of just focusing on making the walking easier blindly I decided to build up her impulse control & focus first. It made everything so much easier.
Laika used to be extremely leash reactive – anytime we encountered another dog, cat, horse, or creature on a walk she’d become a trembling, howling, pulling mess. Luckily it never ended up with any serious consequences, but it was always a possibility, and that behavior was completely unacceptable. It’s not only completely embarrassing, it’s a major liability.
While she’s not perfect, and I still make my fair share mistakes, we’re a much better pair these days. 99% of our walks are completely uneventful, even when we have to walk by a trio of horses or a pair of loose dogs. That 1% is reserved for the neighborhood cat Danny that likes to stalk walk along with us from time to time.
That was my biggest goal with Laika – keeping her calm on walks. And having her already focused on me as we set out the door for our walk made conquering those trouble spots easier.
Your goal might be teaching your dog 100 new tricks, learning some nose work, or maybe even the ultimate test – keeping your dog calm at the dog park.
Whatever your training goal is it’ll be much easier if you’ve got your dog’s full attention; and luckily increasing your dogs focus and impulse control isn’t very difficult. Once you’ve got the the basics mastered you can move on to more distracting locations.
Remember that impulse control in one situation will affect arousal and control in another. So that if our dog goes bonkers over squirrels and over tennis balls, say please by sitting in order to play fetch is important for getting him to behave well around squirrels too. – Sophia Yin
Please share with your friends 🙂
Should You Use a Clicker?
Ive found training my dog much easier since I started clicker training. When relying on treats or praise it’s easy to miss the right “Aha!” moment, and I’ve also found that using different rewards yields different results.
To keep things consistent when working on obedience or basic commands I prefer using a clicker. When I’ve got that clicker in my hand it’s always the same exact cue every single time, and it’s easy to make sure I’m marking the exact moment to offer praise.
Not everyone loves clicker training and that’s perfectly fine; dogs respond well to any kind of positive reinforcement. As long as it’s given consistently and something yummy or fun your dog will be willing to keep at it.
5 Steps to Increase Your Dogs Impulse Control
When it comes to teaching your dog good manners an impulse control remember to start small, set realistic goals, and build on your prior successes. It all sounds so simple — but being consistent is where a lot of us fail.
The general goal of all dog training is to teach our pets impulse control. We want them to resist their immediate desires and, instead, comply with our cues or commands. Accomplishing this allows us to keep our pets under control, ensuring their safety and comfort, as well as the safety and comfort of others. – APSCA
When I first got Laika I was pretty lax with a lot of behaviors. She’d push my hands around with her nose or paws when I had treats in my hand, and she had a really bad habit of jumping up on everyone she met. I’d try redirecting her with toys, vocal commands, and pretty much everything under the sun. None of it was working — she was already so excited by the time I’d try to intervene.
Offering her more toys when she’s already excited? Yelling while jumping up? These were just adding to the chaos and confusion. I wasn’t doing anything consistently; if something didn’t work the first time I’d try something else.
Once I started working on building up her focus and teaching her some impulse control things went much smoother. When a dog begins to automatically look to you for his next cue you can only imagine how much easier things get. Once your dog trusts that you are in control, and that you can help them make the right decision they’ll start looking to you for all the answers.
You can try one, two, or all of these suggestions to increase your dogs focus and impulse control. They’ve all worked well for us; I’m glad to say while Laika might not be perfect (and neither am I) she’s the closest thing to perfection I could ask for in a companion.
Once I took the extra time to work on the basics we developed a much better relationship. Yelling out random commands wasn’t working, and neither was just saying “no” to everything. I had to learn how to communicate with her, and once I did all training became so much easier.
Does your dog need a little help with manners? Here’s 5 steps to increase your dog’s impulse control.
1. Start By Teaching Your Dog to Look at You
The first step in increasing your dogs impulse control is to have them offer you their focus willingly. With your clicker and yummy treat in hand make some sort of noise to get your dogs attention. As soon as he looks at your click and drop a treat for him.
After he’s had that first treat he’ll make his next choice — either to look back up at you, or to explore everything else around him. Once he decides to look back up at you click and reward again — don’t be afraid to show him how proud you are with lots of praise.
To keep it simple I like to use “look at me” as my verbal cue to my dog. It lets her know that paying attention to me will be rewarded. What you’re looking for is your dogs willingness to stop, look at you, and wait patiently before proceeding. When you build on this behavior your dog is not only learning to focus more on you because you’re the bearer or all good and exiting things – you’re also teaching him impulse control.
Gradually increase the amount of time your dog has to look at you for his reward. If he gets pushy or jumps up to get more treats ignore him. Only click when he’s calmly looking up at you. Eventually your dog should be able to sit calmly looking up at you for 5-10 seconds. Keep these training sessions short and sweet (3-5 minutes each session). Just like many of us our dogs get bored when asked to do the same thing for extended periods of time.
The first step to increase your dogs focus and impulse control is to teach him to sit and look up at you calmly.
2. Have Your Dog Wait for a Highly Prized Treat
Grab a big piece of ham or some other highly valued treat (or toy) and repeat the first step – waiting for a calm look. If your dog is anything like Laika this will be quite challenging. She would nudge, push, and try to claw her way through my hand just to get one scrap of ham.
We had to go back to rewarding some really quick 1 or 2 second looks before we could proceed further. Eventually Laika got it and I was able to get her attention for 10 seconds while holding the ultimate treat – a fistful of sugar snap peas.
3. Play the Open Hand Game & Teach “Leave It”
While sitting down or leaning over place some treats in your hand and leave it open for your dog to see. If your dog goes to grab the treats close your hand – only open it again once he’s sat back down or backed off. Keep your hand open at all times unless your dog goes to snatch the treats out of it.
If your dog nudges or scratches your hand keep it closed and wait. Only open it back up once he’s calm and not actively trying to get the treats. Reward him if he chooses to look at you rather than the treats. Eventually your dog will learn to respect your space and look at you for their next cue.
This video shows the game perfectly:
You can also work on leave it by placing a treat or toy on the ground and rewarding your dog for ‘leaving it.’ With Laika I started with a few pieces of kibble on the floor. As soon as she went towards them I’d say leave it and call her over to me while I had her favorite tug toy. When she decided to leave the treats and come over to me I’d reward her. We’d play a quick game of tug and then give her permission to follow up with the treats.
4. Teach Your Dog The “Settle Down” Command
Not all dogs are naturally calm; some need to be taught to relax. To start this command with Laika I chose to focus on dinner time. Before I told her what was expected of her she’d be following my every step in the kitchen – just waiting for me (her clumsy owner) to drop something. I can’t tell you how many times she made off with a carrot or apple I’d dropped.
I chose to have her go to her special place while I made dinner, and in my case it’s a chair placed at the bar in the dining room. She still gets to see everything from her spot. But now I don’t have to worry about stumbling over her, nor do I end up with nearly as much dog hair in my food. She sits in that chair automatically when I’m in the kitchen without me saying a word. And yes, the command I we use is simply “go to your chair.”
Many people choose to use a mat or dog bed for the “settle down” command. Whatever you prefer; it’s your house and your rules after all. If you’d rather have your dog lying in the living room rather than waiting at the kitchen bar I certainly understand.
Laika also knows “go to the couch” which comes in handy when I’m cleaning up or having visitors over. Whichever position or place you choose for your dog the training is the same. Start by teaching them where to go and reward them when they go to it. Gradually build up the amount of time they need to stay “settled” before you reward.
5. Reward Patient Behaviors From Your Dog
Once you’ve done a few impulse control sessions with your dog you can apply it to any other daily routines or experiences. A lot of people have their dogs sit and wait before eating. Others make sure their dog is sitting calmly before letting visitors inside. Many people wait for their dog to sit calmly before leaving for the daily walk.
Decide how you’d like your dog to react in given situations and give him a chance to work at it. Some situations will be much tougher than others but with consistency you can teach your dog to remain calm.
After awhile it becomes so natural that you might not even have to ask your dog for certain behaviors – he’ll start doing them on his own. Don’t forget to keep up with the praise and consistency.
Don’t leave your dog guessing – if he does something desirable make sure to let him know. With every positive reinforcement he receives the more likely he is to repeat that behavior in the future.
Our dogs look to us for cues all the time; don’t leave them guessing. When your dog gives you a nice calm behavior remember to reward him for it.
Impulse Control Makes Training Easier
Increasing your dogs focus and impulse control will make tackling any new so training much easier. Once your dog starts looking to you for the next cue you become his main focus. Dogs are always looking to us for cues. Don’t leave them hanging, and don’t give them mixed messages. They spend a lot of time trying to figure out what we want; make it easier for them by showing them.
When I took time to work on some basic impulse control with Laika I realized what I’d been missing all along. I was trying to teach advanced skills without having the proper foundation in place. I was expecting her, a hyper adolescent dog, to understand what I was saying without actually showing her how to do it. Once I took a step back and started increasing her focus I saw an immediate difference – she began listening.
A great canine human relationship is about more than just food, love, and shelter – it’s also about maintaining good communication.
References & Further Reading
- Dr. Sophia Yin’s Learn to Earn Program
- Karen Pryor Impulse Control: The Default Sit
- Reactive Champion: Leave It
How Did Your Dog Learn Impulse Control?
How did you increase your dogs focus and impulse control? Did you work on that before other behaviors? Did I leave out any great techniques? I’d love to hear what methods worked well for you – share your tips and suggestions in the comments.
Recommended Reading:
- 26 Quick & Easy Ways to Relieve Dog Boredom
- 10 Easy Ways to Give Your Dog More Mental Stimulation
- 39 Healthy Treats You Can Stuff in a Kong
Please share with your friends 🙂
This post is helpful and gives me lots of reminders and ideas for Lana. She is easily distracted and has very little impulse control, but the good thing is she does watch everything I’m doing, at least at home. I’m not much of a clicker trainer, but I do have a clicker and she would probably benefit from it.
On the other hand, my dog ace has always had pretty good impulse control. He listens most of the time and wasn’t easily distracted even as a young dog.
I couldn’t imagine having to start working on this all over again, I can definitely sympathize. I bet Lana is just like Laika when I first got her lol.
We discussed Nothing In Life Is Free training not long ago. All of the things you suggest are part of that training and I did them with Freighter. The added benefit of NILF training is that it does reinforce things like “look” and impulse control. The dog must pay attention to you for things and only gets the prize when you say it is OK. Now if only we could get Freighter steady at tests. He just cannot control himself around guns and birds. I think the way to work on that is lots of repetition once the weather breaks. We just have to find a place where we can train with guns and birds. 🙂
Have you gotten him used to the sound of gunshots using recordings found online?
He is used to gunfire. He is a hunting dog. Firing a real gun over a dog in the field when there are birds to be retrieved is way different from a recording. He just loves the game so much.
There are definitely some things I need to work with on Laika as well, while it’s not guns and birds it’s squirrels and cats. She’s OK looking at them – but as soon as they take off she goes berserk. I’m sure it’s her prey drive; and their fast movement just becomes too much. I’ve gotten better; she is able to stay – though she’s a shaking, trembling, whining mess. I can’t wait for the weather to break, I was loving the winter but I think it’s time for some warm sunshine. Good luck with Freighter this year; I know he can be a handful, but the best dogs (in my opinion) usually come with some extra personality 🙂
I’ve been reading your suggestions. Any for our 10 month lab/whatever mix that jumps and bites she bit me really hard the other day and now I’m having second thoughts if I can train her
Do you think your dog is somewhat hyperactive? If so this article (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_5/features/Training-Hyperactive-Dogs_20259-1.html) has a lot of specific activities that can help overly rambunctious dogs.
Fantastic post! My most recent goal has been leash manners. With 3 huskies who were bred to pull a sled….they tend to tear my arms off. (Not literally of course) lol. So I have been working with them a lot and am happy to say I am finally getting somewhere! haha!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Glad to hear it’s going well; my boyfriend’s family had a Husky and I could not walk him for the life of me. They had to work with him so much to get him to calm down and walk nicely, I can definitely sympathize lol.
Fantastic article, Jen! You have so many great tips here and almost everyone’s dog has an issue with impulse control around high level distractions. I worked a lot with Haley on getting her attention and having her look at me when she was a puppy and I still reinforce it on a daily basis. It’s been huge in creating a bond between us and it’s made training and controlling her behavior so much easier. Again, awesome article!!
Thanks – it’s so amazing once I finally realized that training is never quite done. There’s always so many opportunities to reinforce the good behaviors. I used to just train it then forget it, now with Laika I’ve noticed a big difference in keeping it up.
Wow this was the best article I have seen for training your dog to be patient and attentive! (and I have read allloooooot) I think the clicker method definitely seems to be the best method, It is hard to make sure that your rewarding the right behaviors without it.
I try not to go anywhere without my handy clicker 🙂 Since my dog has been trained with it she knows it’s time to focus as soon as I pull it out. Thank you so much for the awesome compliment.
Great article! I will admit that I am a really poor dog trainer. Veruca and Ava are very mellow and attentive dogs so they behave well most of the time and so I have become complacent on the training. With that said, Veruca and I worked with a clicker for some time and I found it really helpful in providing consistent and immediate acknowledgment for correct behaviors. I also have a couple of Dr. Sophia Yin’s videos and I those are really helpful also.
I’m so glad I decided to use a clicker; it really does make such a difference when you’re able to signal the exact moment of success. I feel like I was probably missing out on so many cues before I had that handy tool. I find myself referring to Sophia Yin’s videos as well; they’ve been extremely helpful.
This is great! My dogs all have some issues with impulse control. We do “watch me” “wait” and “touch” each day.
I have been trying much of this with Kilo. I don’t enjoy using the clicker but it can be effective for sure. Kilo is so food motivated, he only really thinks about treats most of the time. He still loses control under many circumstances. It’s a long road. Glad you have had such success with Laika
These are great training tips. I’ve worked on these a lot w/ my Husky and she’s wonderful. The only area of difficulty is control when visitors come over; we don’t have many visitors & the dogs get super excited when we do. Practicing these exercises is a great way to increase focus & control. Sharing.
This is really helpful! I just adopted a 6 month old staffy from the shelter about 3 months ago. At first. He was amazing, listened wonderfully, potty trained and was so well behaved .. i, of course, spoiled him and let bad behavior slide without properly punishing him.. now im paying for it. He decides what he wants to do with very little regard for me and what i am saying. The only time i get his attention is after yelling at him. But thats no good. We’ve been trying to find better, more proper ways to train him and get his behavior under control. I think clicker training may help, plus i really like how you just laid out the basics. So many people, including myself expect our puppies to know- when we havent ever taught them whats right.. only whats wrong. I think Henry gets confused when I yell, in turn it makes it much worse because then im frustrated and so is he… which leads to more bad behavior.
So thank you for writing this article. Im going to try it out and hopefully we will see some positive results.
🙂
What a fantastic article! Thanks so much! Our 1.5 yr old beagle is pretty good with controlling himself when we require him to with treats on the ground. Our one big problem is when he encounters another male dog out on walks. Half the time he will go totally ballistic, barking and howling, and no matter what I do I cannot get his attention. Others think he’s some sort of killer dog! I’ve been trying to avoid those situations as much as possible, and will take a small water gun to redirect him next time. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I don’t want to distract him with a treat since that would look like I’m rewarding him (unless I give it once we’ve walked away).
Since your dog is being pretty reactive to other male dogs I’d suggest trying to keep him “under threshold” and distract him with treats before he gets over-stimulated. When your dog is howling like that it’s because he’s stressed out & fearful, so using something like a water gun can actually make his fear worse. The ultimate goal is to teach him that good things happen when male dogs are near.
Unfortunately once your dog is already super excited & barking or lunging from being by another dog it’s really hard to get him to listen and/or calm down at that exact moment with any method you choose. There’s a lot of tips over in this article (https://www.puppyleaks.com/walking-your-reactive-dog/) about dealing with reactivity on walks.
I found this article very helpful! I watched the video clip and started working these strategies on my puppy. I am a new parent of my pup- 4 months old male golden retriever. These tips helped me feel more confident in making my pup and me have a happy relationship!
Hi Jen
Luna is a 5 year old Irish Terrier cross, a rescue dog caught as a stray in Ireland. We’ve had her just over a year now and lately she’s starting lunging at cars with a vengeance. Cars pulling trailers are a definite target, taxis are a pretty good bet with other cars a seemingly random choice, when it rains the lunging rate goes up. She’s good at greeting other dogs if the other owner allows it. She will sit, wait and walk at the kerbside; if rewarded. she scavenges constantly and is good at it too, getting her attention is not easy. She is friendly with cats if they allow it but goes mad after squirrels, turning and savaging her lead to get away. My feeling is that she still has the stray dog mentality and I don’t know how to overcome this. By the way we are in the UK.
regards
Dave Atkinson
Dave,
I sympathize with you, Luna sounds similar to my dog Laika when it comes to her reactivity to moving things. The basic principle of managing reactivity is to get your dog’s attention and redirect it before they get too stimulated (easier said than done, I know). It takes a lot of practice, and there will be setbacks because you’re not just training one specific behavior – you’re ultimately trying to change your dog’s emotional response to their surroundings. I’d start by training Luna to look at you with a certain cue. So with a treat in hand you can stop for a moment and tell her to ‘look at me’ and when you get her attention praise & give her the treat. Do this in a non distracting environment until you’re confident that she knows exactly what you’re asking. Then gradually you can do that same cue in a slightly more distracting environment. Managing reactivity is incremental; and the goal is to start building up her confidence around moving things to the point where she doesn’t feel the need to bark and/or lunge. I’d look into finding a dog trainer that has experience with reactivity as well. It takes time and consistency, but don’t get discouraged. Since it’s a big topic I’ll leave some of my favorite posts on the subject. (and most articles you read will be about dog-dog reactivity since that’s most common, but the same methods work for reactivity towards cars etc)
http://www.drjensdogblog.com/from-crazy-to-calm-a-training-plan-for-leash-reactivity/
https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/reactive-dog-foundation-exercises-for-your-leash-reactive-dog/
https://muttabouttown.com/2013/08/18/leash-reactivity-its-trainable/
All help greatly appreciated. I found your steps to impulse control very helpful. I have a rescue yorkie/schnauzer who had no training (not even toilet training) until she came to me at almost a year old. I also have a rescue Labrador/Schnauzer who has a completely different temperament, so relaxed by comparison and who has taught the Yorkie a lot about how to play etc.. She is highly sensitive to sudden sounds, tone of voice, movement. She has made a lot of progress and I have taken it very slowly but any change in my tone of voice will see her scurrying off tail tucked in, to some hiding place. I have started trying, only lately because it has taken some time for her to settle into the house, to manage her impulse control by first having her sit in front of me in the garden at meal time, (anywhere beyond this is overstimulating for her). I hold a piece of her kibble away at arms length and as soon as she makes eye contact with me she gets to eat the piece. It took very little time for her to ‘cop on’ but she’s doing it now, and I can gradually bring the piece of kibble closer to me and it is so amusing and encouraging to see her try so hard to keep her gaze on me. This is a very small step towards being able to take her beyond the confines of the garden and out very, very gradually into the big world beyond the garden gate. But not yet. She is a slow burner. She has a lot of unlearning to get through before she moves forward with any momentum but it’s going to take a lot of time for her to attend beyond the confines of the house. We’ll get there with your help & hard work. Thank you for the guidance.
Sounds like you’re making really good progress with her. The training you’re doing (whether it’s tricks or learning to focus) should help to gradually increase her confidence. One of my favorite blogs is http://fearfuldogs.com/, and I recommend checking it out. It has a ton of great advice for helping a shy and/or anxious dogs.
Great article.
My question is – what about if you have been doing all these things since first getting your pup and when no other dogs are around gives 100%. When it is just us on a walk; he walks to heel beautifully – no lead. I even tell him to go run, but unless I throw the ball – he sticks like glue. I tell him to leave bikes and joggers without a problem. I have my puppy’s attention 100%.
This is lost the moment he see’s another dog. He just wants to play and the reward of play beats anything – toys/treats/ball – I no longer exist for him. Because he is so good most of the time, I admit I do not tell him off much and I want him to have fun and play, but am frustrated. I would like to attend more pet/ for fun dog shows and do scent work etc – but I find it stressful. even the training class we attend is stressful and often I get dragged across the field to a dog he wants to meet. Pup is an 8-month-old GSD.
Will he grow out of this as he gets older?
Thanks
Clare
It’s really tough when it comes to keeping their attention around other dogs. As far as whether it’s something he’ll grow out of I’d say probably not. His energy level may change, which make may it slightly easier to manage, but from my experience at least the whole “gotta play with other dogs” mentality doesn’t go away. The fact that you’re already in a training class is great, and the fact that you’re going even though it’s stressful shows your commitment. I recommend checking out the following article: https://dogmantics.com/teach-your-puppy-appropriate-greetings-on-leash/ that deals specifically with dog to dog interactions and impulse control. She has a lot of great articles & videos (https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup) on dog-dog interactions.
Thank you soo much! Very helpful tips! Cant wait to try it! I just got a new puppy hes a apple head Chihuahua his name is Duke hes already learning so well with the tricks im teaching him , hes a good boy. I just couldnt wrap my head around why he wouldnt listen to me. Im trying so many diffrent ways to teach him, giving him lots of love but he is having problems with this. My sister also has a puppy same litter they are bother and sister so first thing when they both wake up is cry for eachother its hard keeping them away from eachother but he never listens to me he gets distracted basically ignores me and lays with my sister, i call him and hes looking towars his sister mavis direction. im trying to keep them separate at much as possible just hard when we live together and we are both trying to train our dogs. He hears my sisters commands to her puppy so he gets distracted on how they treat her thinking shes talking to him . Im not disciplining him at all, i would raise my voice if he pooped or peed on the floor but that didn’t help and i dont want him scared of me so ive stopped that i couldnt be like that with him he is too precious and i know its not his fault hes a baby himself learning. So i stopped and now i just need control because right now hes running the show . Im going to be consistant , and have patience. Im taking time out of each day to teach him. i know he’ll learn hes a smart boy 🙂 any other tips will help me and Duke out greatly !
This is a great article! I’m always working on impulse control with my dog. We’ve got “go to your chair” when anyone is eating, and “leave it” down, but he does get very reactive when we’re walking and we see another dog. He also gets very stressed out when new people come over to visit. Any tips for how to help him calm down around new people and dogs?
Thank you!! 🙂
Having a dog that you brought up from the beginning to focus, resist impulses, and pay attention to you to the exclusion of all else is one of the most rewarding experiences you can ever have. They become your true companion and you almost act as one. You have to train yourself almost as hard, to understand dog language and pay just as much attention to them.
I completely agree with this article. My first dog was so impulsive she would attack or jump on anyone wherever we were! even at malls! It was embarrassing and scary at the same time because people might say bad things about my baby if they were the type that didnt like dogs.
I think dog trainers are a good way to solve the problem but I like how this article alsi encourages and educates the typical furparent to train their babies themselves.
I will try most of the things I learned here and will be back to share my progress! I hope I can do it right. So far, I just rely on dog socialisation. Like monkey see moneky do. So I let my dogs go on walks with https://www.maddogsdogwalking.com.au/ so that they can be with other dogs and a strong alpha dog walker and play in the sun, parks and beaches. I was just hoping that my dog would learn from other dogs how to have manners and such. But these tips might be a good addition to my current strategy, thank you!
I’m glad to have come across your article, indeed this is very educational for dog owners like me! I remember when I had my first puppy, she kept running off whenever she sees the front gate is opened and I would chase her like crazy in the middle of the road. I didn’t knew better then and the way I would teach her not to storm out whenever the gate is opened is that I would put a leash on her and kept pulling her back as she attempts to go out while I kept saying the word “no”. It kind a work though, as she grew older, she doesn’t storm out from the gate. So, thanks for tips, will surely keep this in mind and put in into application for my other dogs.
Hi, Jen. Always a pleasure reading your articles. There are several impulse control exercises I incorporate into my dog’s basic training. The standard method is to “leave it.” Most people teach this by using intimidation, and the dog learns to wait to get the treat. Through positive motivation, I teach the dog that he will or may get something as good or better by leaving the food or other object alone. At first, the dog gets a treat for leaving the treat alone, and once he has learned the behavior, the reinforcement schedule is changed so that he expects it may get something as good or better if he leaves the object alone. https://esacare.com/best-trainers-certified-therapy-dog/
These are great tips for teaching your dog good manners. I have gotten my dog, Henry to sit when he’s distracted and he does settle down. I haven’t been able to get him to look at me. He seems to think that there are way too many other things to look at that are more important. I suspect I need to upgrade my reward treat.
I’m passing these tips on to my dog friends. 😊💖🐶