The theme for this month’s Positive Pet Training blog hop is “Impulse Control”. I never really gave a lot of thought before to impulse control and what it means for dogs. It’s not that I had perfectly trained dogs, but more that I just wasn’t familiar with formal dog training and the terms involved. Until Luke came along, we didn’t do a lot of specific training with our dogs, other than basics, but we certainly worked with some on different issues they had. Our golden retriever Sheba’s jumping on people comes to mind.
Our success with Sheba may illustrate impulse control perfectly. Even with the competition of other dogs for attention, Sheba would sit and wait for her turn to greet people. You could see her literally quivering with the desire to jump but holding herself back! It’s been a lot of years since we did that training, but I think we mostly just turned our backs to her when she started to jump, and she learned that jumping was not going to get her what she wanted.
Impulse control in dogs basically refers to having them wait patiently for things they really want. You may not want your dog running out the door when it’s opened, jumping on people for attention, or grabbing treats out of your hand. Training impulse control means teaching your dog to be calm and polite when they want something.
Our Lab mix Maggie was also a jumper and though we tried to discourage her, there were plenty of people in her life that didn’t mind her jumping on them (which made training her out of it more difficult!). When I started to see the same behavior in Sheba, I knew I didn’t want her doing that. It was just something I didn’t like; even though it didn’t necessarily bother some people in our lives.
I think most pet families probably have specific behaviors they don’t want in their dogs, and others that they don’t mind while others do. Jumping on people, pulling on the leash, and begging at the table come immediately to mind. Begging at the table is a pet peeve (excuse the pun) of mine, so it’s something we work on. I don’t mind Luke jumping on me when I get home (though I try to control it which I’ll get into later), and I want him to bark at strangers coming to our door. I don’t like leash pulling so we work on that.
For me, I’ve found impulse control to be something I didn’t always specifically train for, but other commands we’ve worked on have helped with teaching Luke to wait patiently for things. Training Luke to sit, stay, and go to his bed are ways he learns to stay under control.
While I want him to bark at the window to alert us someone is here, I don’t want it to go on endlessly. If it’s a stranger to me, I might let it. One morning when my hubby wasn’t home a strange man walked up our driveway and came to the door. We have an enclosed entryway with a glass door on the inside. I let Luke bark at the other side of the glass door while I opened the one to the outside to see what this man wanted. He was no threat, but if he had been, he might have thought twice when I was within reach of the door Luke was at.
On the other hand, if someone comes that I know, I like to try to get Luke to go to his bed and be quiet, or into his crate if they are coming inside. Then I want him to stop barking, though we’re still working on that. I want him to equate going to those places with being quiet and settling down, so that’s what we practice.
I like Luke to get excited when I come home. I want to know he’s happy to see me. While that excitement often includes jumping on me, I’ve learned to use our “up up” cue, so that instead of jumping at me with both paws, I put my arm out and he rests his paws on my arm (if I’m not quick enough, sometimes I catch his paws in my hands instead). That way he’s not knocking me over. Because he’s fearful of everyone but my one sister, I don’t have to worry about him jumping on anyone else (she doesn’t mind). My hubby doesn’t like the jumping and Luke has learned that, because my hubby taught him an alternate behavior. Once he initially runs around with excitement and says hello, he then runs to the couch and waits for his Dadz there. My hubby goes there to give him attention and hugs. Luke is a smart dog and he learned that routine easily. Teaching him an alternative behavior really helps him to calm down!
He learned not to get grabby with treats by being taught to sit for them. Even when our beagle Cricket was still with us, and we didn’t always make her sit (because of her arthritis), he still would. Sometimes he needs to be reminded but often if you just wait for him, he’ll sit on his own.
I now also use his sit cue when putting his harness on before walks. He has calmed down some now that Cricket isn’t also getting wound up before we leave, but he’s still excited about his walks and he knows getting his harness on leads to that. It’s a work in progress, but he is getting better every day. Again, in this case, using a known cue helps him to focus and stay calmer.
I’m now trying the same logic to keep him from biting at the leash as we leave. I haven’t hit on the exact right thing yet, though using his cue “let’s go” seems to be helping some. One of the challenging things about teaching dogs patience, is that you need to have patience yourself. That’s where I fall short. It doesn’t work for me to just keep stopping every time he chews on the leash, so he learns he doesn’t go if he’s doing it. That’s the recommended method but he can chew the leash longer than I want to stand there waiting to leave. Now I’m trying to distract him with an alternative cue (and possibly treats) instead.
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Luckily for us, we have quality equipment in our Ruffwear harness* (he used to chew on that when he was impatient as well, but I think he’s finally over that, if I’m not too slow to get going), and our Nifti Safelatch leash* which has been holding up very well to his chewing (he’s chewed through other leashes in the past).
I’m also sure it’s easier with some dogs than others. Another case where I needed far more patience than I had? You’ve seen my photos and videos in the past of our late beagle Cricket barking at me to throw her ball. I tried and tried to discourage that behavior by not throwing the ball until she stopped, but she was willing to bark for a lot longer than I was willing to listen to it! Cricket had that beagle stubbornness, and I really had to pick my battles with her.
We still have a lot to work on with Luke. He can’t resist stealing a used tissue, sock, or glove in the house, or eating deer poop outside. For both of those things we use “leave it”, but it often just doesn’t work. I now try more “trade” – give up what you have, and I’ll give you a treat. We’ll see how that goes, while continuing to work on his “leave it” cue. He just really has trouble with that one.
In most cases with Luke, what works for me is tying in impulse control with all our other training. Luke learns well. His “stay” command keeps him from darting out the door when it’s open. The times he’s gotten out recently have been because the Dadz just opened the door and trusted Luke wouldn’t go through. If he had just said “stay” and put his hand out, I don’t think that would have happened.
That’s why it’s important all household members are on the same page. The Dadz breaks the begging at the table rules, and then wonders why Luke is next to him sticking his nose in his plate! They are just dogs, after all, and you can’t blame them for trying something that has worked in the past. But when he’s told to go to his bed, that’s exactly what he does. Consistency is also key, as is training husbands too!
We are pleased to be co-hosting the Positive Pet Training blog hop with Tenacious Little Terrier and Travels with Barley. Pet bloggers, please join us in this hop by posting your positive pet training stories. The hop remains open through Sunday. Our theme this month is “Impulse Control”, however, you may share any positive pet training story, whether it’s on our theme or not!
Impulse control is super important, it can literally save your dog’s life one day if you’re out somewhere and there is danger around. I practice making my dogs sit & wait for food, treats, and going for walks. The walk excitement is very high but we continually work on it. My Husky Icy always wants to greet people that come over enthusiastically so that’s always a work in progress – we don’t have many visitors so it’s extremely exciting for them and we don’t get to practice much. Great post, I’m sharing this.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Thank you so much, Cathy! I think it’s most difficult to control their sheer excitement for things. It’s so great to see them happy and excited about anything in life, but at the same time, as you said, we have to be sure we’re keeping them safe too. ♥
My training with River is finally starting to pay off, so that she doesn’t jump on me when I get home. I like the happy dance, too, but those claws can do some damage. I make her sit for a treat before I’ll greet her. That is beginning to work.
My husband’s training of me to stop giving little tastes of my dinner at the table continues to fail. He needs to hone his technique.
Hahaha…..maybe your hubby needs to figure out what treat would work with you!!! 🙂
Patience is the hardest part! I use alternative behaviors too… although they’re often on the human side. I have Mr. N high five people/kids when I think they’re going to pet him in a way he doesn’t like/roughly.
That’s a great idea!
I love all the great examples of alternative behaviors. Such a great tool.
I like the idea of letting him jump and put his paws on you arm. I think that’s a great alternative to his jumping. Delilah is a jumper. Mostly we use a gate between us and her (it also keeps Sampson from thinking he’s Under Dog and rushing down the stairs like a super hero.) But if we have gone out to dinner and are late getting home for HER dinner, all bets are off. 🙂
The gate is a great idea too. Our beagle Kobi was the most laid back dog in the world, not much would cause him to get overly excited when we got home….except if we were late for his supper. Then he would bark furiously at us! 🙂
You’ve had such great experience with impulse control training! It sounds as if you’re making amazing progress with Luke. I like the Dadz’ alternate behavior to jumping. That’s perfect!
I have a different kind of story. Our Labs have always needed tons and tons of impulse control work… until Shyla. It was a huge mistake on my part to do impulse control work with her. Ever since those early days, she’s often too scared to go get a treat that I’ve tossed for her. I have to reassure her three times over before she’ll tentatively walk toward it. I think that she’s been my lesson in being sure that you match your training to your dog’s personality. Shyla needs reassurance that it’s okay to be assertive — and impulse control work is the antithesis of that.
But, then there’s R… who still bites his leash at age 10.5 years. It’s wonderful to see now because we love that he still has puppy in him. But, we should’ve trained him not to do it when he was a puppy 🙂
When they get older, like R, things like that just don’t seem quite as important anymore. You just want to see them enjoying life however they see fit. While it could be annoying when she barked in my ear, I just loved seeing Cricket enjoying playing ball, even if she was bossy about it.
I think one thing we definitely learn when we end up with a fearful/reactive dog is that they are all different, and we have to tailor our training appropriately. You do so great with Shyla!
Many humans could benefit from impulse control too!
Absolutely!!
I remember that last OES I owned who was diagnosed with PTSD and who had scads of issues, not the least of which was food obsession. I was able to get him to calm down and wait before chowing down. He would drool like a waterfall, but patiently waited until I gave him the all clear signal. Sadly, many of his other issues were not so easily abated. Continued success with Luke’s impulses.
With dogs that have those issues, all you can do is tackle them one at a time and hope for the best. There is so much to work on with Luke, and I just keep plugging away at it! My biggest reason for working on things like this with him is the hope that it will build his confidence and help us with other things in the long run.
Very interesting post. I don’t think cats have impulse control 🙂
They certainly do not, and they see no reason they should. 🙂
I’ll just put this right out there…my boys SUCK at impulse control. BOL! BOL!
I love that you’re willing to admit it, and until Luke I would have said the exact same thing!!
It sure sounds like Luke is doing pretty darn good! My Dad could use some impulse control, he won’t sit still if there are chocolate chip cookies in the house.
LOL….we humans are probably the worst when it comes to impulse control!
Great job Luke and great post!
Thank you from both of us!! ♥
Training husbands, hmmm. I don’t know about yours, but mine is untrainable when it comes to the dogs. Not that he’s not smart, he just likes spoiling them too much. 🙄
I love that Luke waits on the couch for the Dadz! That’s great! If Sam would do that with Ducky, it would make my life easier. But it won’t happen…{SIGH}
Yes, my hubby also knows what to do, he just doesn’t want to do it. He leaves the training to me because he has even less patience than I do! LOL
We’ve tried the training an alternate behavior, too, when Rye was getting really jumpy and nippy in agility. Instead, we trained a down as she came running back to me and most of the time now she just flops down as soon as the course is over instead of pouncing on me. It was amazing how quickly she caught on to that!
And I feel you on the patience thing! Most of the time, I can wait out the dogs (because I’m super stubborn, too), but there are times when it’s just not going to happen–like when we stop at an intersection and they don’t want to sit and a car is waiting and waving us across. It can be exhausting!
Rye is a smart girl!
I am trying to learn more patience, but wow, it’s tough! 🙂
I will try that too to avoid wild jumping when I come home… Phenny’s dew claws are like the blades of freddy krueger… it#s always a painful welcome for me ;O)))
Oh, yes, those dew claws. Luke likes to put his paws all the way up on my shoulders when I’m sitting sometimes, and those things dig right in! I always complain to him that it wouldn’t be so bad if he’d let me trim them (that’s another whole thing to work on!).
We use impulse control a lot for our sports training. It is always better for us to learn to stop a behavior on our own than to have Mom demand we stop. Great topic.
I think you are right about that, and I can see where it would be very important for your sports.