Stitch Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I am after some basic self control exercises to teach puppies by degrees some form of self control. Currently I teach my lot to wait for their food or wait for a treat but I would like to put in place a program that gradually builds on this. Any ideas would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Stitch, would Triangle Of Temptation work , perhaps? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) Sorry am no help to you but will be keeping an eye on this thread as I would like to help Stella improve her self control skills. Edited January 1, 2013 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Hi again Persephone, that's pretty much what I teach now, waiting for them to look at me before they can eat. We form a triangle, ie, me, the dog and the foodbowl. Can you think of any other exercises? I suppose really ALL dog training exercises teach self control to some degree but I was hoping of putting together about 3 or 4 exercises that I would teach routinely and that I could reasonably work into my daily dog time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Do you know "it's yer choice" by Susan Garret? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 This may be simplistic, but I like to think teaching self control is as simple as first building desire for reward and then offering or withholding that reward based on the dogs responses/behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsadogslife Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Here is an exercise called the long down (or sit on the dog). Great for teaching self control as well as being very useful http://sanityshome.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/sit-on-dog-aka-long-down.html here is a pictorial of the exercise: http://sanityshome.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/sit-on-dog-pictorial.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 SG's Crate Games and It's Yer Choice help with self control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Interesting exercise Itsadogslife however it seems to be a dominance exercise rather than a self control. I will try it and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurf1 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I'm just looking at Susan Ailsby's training programme (her new levels version you have to buy but you can download her old version for free). The "Zen" sections would be the info that would most relate to what you are after. http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/page10/ Edited January 1, 2013 by Smurf1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Thank you Smurf1....it will take me a while to sift through all that...Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieEvans Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I've tried withholding my dog's treats for a time and later giving it to her once she could wait for about more than 5 seconds. Although that doesn't work the whole time, it kind of taught my dog to wait for a while. I've also seen an article saying that placing a treat on your dog's nose and rewarding him when he doesn't eat it immediately works. I haven't tested that out though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 This explains Its Yer Choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 And Crate Games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Be careful not to overdo it's yer choice (and any self control games really). You want your dog to be switched on, eager, muscles tense really wanting to get the reward but holding back. You don't want them to be relaxed - at least if you're wanting to do dog sports. If you make your dog wait too long it will disengage and you'll be inadvertently teaching them that disengaging = you get a reward, a really bad lesson for any dog really. Susan Garret explains it really well in one of her blog posts if I can find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Be careful not to overdo it's yer choice (and any self control games really). You want your dog to be switched on, eager, muscles tense really wanting to get the reward but holding back. You don't want them to be relaxed - at least if you're wanting to do dog sports. If you make your dog wait too long it will disengage and you'll be inadvertently teaching them that disengaging = you get a reward, a really bad lesson for any dog really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Be careful not to overdo it's yer choice (and any self control games really). You want your dog to be switched on, eager, muscles tense really wanting to get the reward but holding back. You don't want them to be relaxed - at least if you're wanting to do dog sports. If you make your dog wait too long it will disengage and you'll be inadvertently teaching them that disengaging = you get a reward, a really bad lesson for any dog really. Susan Garret explains it really well in one of her blog posts if I can find it. I would add crate games to that warning as well. I saw a few dogs recently at an agility clinic that found the crate more rewarding and after 1 sequence would turn and run full pelt back to their crate. If only they had the same enthusiasm for the equipment! I have also seen dogs where crates games was done well and it can be great :) Same as many things - the key to it is getting the right balance for your dog to keep them at the level that you want them to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Use a slow countdown while the dog is in a stay, before you give your release que. Start training it with 1, OK, then 2,1,OK then 3,2,1,OK etc. building up to whatever you want, but we don't go past 5 depending on how far out we want to lead. Make sure that 1 & OK don't get blended together & occasionally say something else between 1 & OK so the dog learns it has to wait till it actually hears "OK" before it can release. Much better than leading out, constantly saying, "wait, wait, wait etc". We do this with gates, doors, swimming pool, food etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 And don't always push for more and more and more. Be happy with enough given the pup's age and tendancy to be easily distracted by the most of benign things, as they tend to be when they are pups. Work within the perimeters of the pup's level and phase of mental development and capability. Steady as she goes will gain you a dog who has not learnt to fail at the errors of our own hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Be careful not to overdo it's yer choice (and any self control games really). You want your dog to be switched on, eager, muscles tense really wanting to get the reward but holding back. You don't want them to be relaxed - at least if you're wanting to do dog sports. If you make your dog wait too long it will disengage and you'll be inadvertently teaching them that disengaging = you get a reward, a really bad lesson for any dog really. Susan Garret explains it really well in one of her blog posts if I can find it. I would add crate games to that warning as well. I saw a few dogs recently at an agility clinic that found the crate more rewarding and after 1 sequence would turn and run full pelt back to their crate. If only they had the same enthusiasm for the equipment! I have also seen dogs where crates games was done well and it can be great :) Same as many things - the key to it is getting the right balance for your dog to keep them at the level that you want them to be. Definitely the key is balance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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