Impulse Control/self Control

[corvus]

Kivi I didn't have to teach. Erik... not so much. He is currently learning that default downs without prompting get him a lot of things he very much likes.

[Aidan]

Clicker trainers call it "Doggy Zen", the "Triangle of Temptation" protocol which is popular here has similarities in principle. Basically we teach the dog that to get what he wants he musn't just go for it until given permission, which is earned.

You can start off by doing the basic doggy zen exercise - food in the closed hand, open the hand when the dog backs off and stops trying to get it. The Training Levels program has some good progressions based on this exercise: http://www.dragonflyllama.com

Long downs are another good impulse control exercise. There are a number of ways people do them, this is my preferred method - tether the dog in your house, have him "drop", take a step away, return. Take two steps, return. When you return each time, give the dog some attention. Take three steps, return etc If he gets up, ask him to "drop", resume the exercise from a smaller number of steps away ("let me explain it to you again, more simply this time") and start building distance again.

The aim is to be able to go about your business while your dog waits, RELAXED, in the drop position. Relaxed is the key.

[corvus]

"Relaxed" is the problem. I've just started with Leslie McDevitt's version from Control Unleashed. She plays a game with them for 30 seconds or so and then takes the toy away and signals a sit or down and then plays again when they do. I've been teaching Erik a default down, so that's coming in handy. He was already decent at it from NILIF, but we have a lot of work to build him up. He has taken the default down on board and is doing lovely downs at the door when I come home without prompting. Cutie. He's like "Will you open the door faster if I lie down?"

We are doing Doggy Zen as well, but I think it's getting a bit lost in everything else we're doing. We don't practice it enough!

[poodlefan]

Personally I think crate training and crate games can really help with this.'

If Eric is offering the down and being rewarded for it, how is that teaching him self control? Try teaching a 'wait' in the down position.. extend the duration of the down before reward is offered.

[corvus]

McDevitt says it teaches them to think through excitement and self-regulate. It makes sense to me. It's not like just rewarding a particular behaviour when he offers it. If Erik wants something he has to offer a down for it, no matter how excited he is. If I don't cue a down but just stand there and wait, then he has to calm himself down enough to think about what he's going to do. McDevitt stresses that they should be worked under threshold and you gradually increase the criteria. Erik stays in his down until he is formally released, so he can do a wait in a down. He can even down for his dinner, now, which is great seeing as three weeks ago he was barking hysterically and running around biting things when dinner was being prepared.

Now that I think about it, we've made quite a bit of progress. We still have work to do, though. He can be a bit excitable.