November 14, 2022, 5:08 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
Whether it’s a flying bird, an approaching dog, or passing joggers–dogs are constantly exposed to various stimuli in everyday life. For the dog’s safety and the owner’s peace of mind, it’s essential that the dog can control emerging impulses. In the PETBOOK Dog School, we explain important basics of dog training and offer solutions for common problems. This time, it’s about training the dog’s self-control.
In everyday life, it’s not uncommon for dogs to follow impulses without wanting to listen to their owners’ signals. Whether it’s a ball game the dog doesn’t want to stop or an encounter with another dog that involves a lot of leash pulling. Training the dog’s self-control makes the relationship between dog and owner easier. This way, the dog learns to control its emotions and behavior.
Overview
Preparation
Before starting to train the dog’s self-control, some preparation is necessary. As with any training session, it’s helpful to have the dog’s favorite treat ready as a reward. In addition to the treat, owners should also decide on an appropriate praise word in advance. Suitable praise words include “Good” or “Great.”
To ensure the dog takes its owner seriously during training, an upright, confident posture is important. The owner’s body language should be open, and the mood should be friendly. Training the dog’s impulse control also requires a lot of self-control, calmness, and patience from the owner.
The training requires a distraction that entices the dog. This could be another dog within the dog’s line of sight and not too far away.
Practicing Self-Control: An Extremely Excited Dog Should Calm Down First
A very excited dog finds it particularly difficult to train self-control. In this state, even treats can’t distract the animal, as the dog won’t eat them or will quickly spit them out. The excitement manifests itself, for example, by jumping into the leash, barking, and whining.
Therefore, it’s important to first regulate the dog’s excitement. The dog learns that excited behavior doesn’t benefit it. The exercise requires a lot of patience and many repetitions from the owner.
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Guide: Training Impulse Control
In this exercise, a second dog in view serves as a distraction. The dog whose impulse control is being trained wants to interact with the other dog and is very excited. The following steps help the dog calm down before the encounter.
- Step: Owner and dog walk around together as long as the dog is very excited.
- Step: As long as the dog is very excited, the owner acts as if they don’t notice this behavior.
- Step: As soon as the dog calms down and shows less excited behavior, it is rewarded and addressed: The owner praises the dog at this moment with calming, friendly words, such as “good dog” or “that’s a good boy.” The choice of words is up to the owner.
- Step: If the dog behaves calmly and relaxed for at least three seconds next to its owner, it is offered a treat as a reward.
- Step: The owner notices that the dog has indeed calmed down when the animal accepts the offered treat without being rough.
- Step: If the dog is at the point where it accepts the treat and walks calmly next to the owner, it is confirmed with a praise word and receives more treats.
- Step: If the dog behaves calmly and accepts treats, contact with the second dog can take place.
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Caution: Don’t Accidentally Reward the Wrong Behavior
When training the dog’s self-control, it’s important for the owner to react quickly if the dog becomes excited again. If it pulls on the leash or barks, it should no longer be noticed or praised by the owner. The treats should quickly disappear from the hand in this case. Otherwise, it can quickly happen that the dog is rewarded for the wrong behavior.