Impulse Control

What is impulse control? This is simply learning to pause. I went to a mediation course and the teacher explained the calming effects as learning to respond instead of react. This is the tool we want to teach our pups. If we have a reactive pup dealing with a fear, giving them just a moment to pause... it also the pup a moment to choose how they want to respond.

There are lots of great ways to work on changing the physiological reaction a dog has to a trigger or a fear. We have many science-based approaches; CC&D, BAT, CAT...etc. However, if we aren't working on impulse control and scent work (another article...see link...) then we aren't setting our pups up for success when they get to these stressful situations.

With that said, impulse control activities are great for reactive, excitable, aggressive/scared pups. Impulse control activities will help calm if the pup is having small panic attacks. It gives them a minute to try to understand their situation. It begins as just a moment and progessively can become a minute and longer. Then we can work to increase the distractions in that moment to in that minute. Then we can work to increasing the distance we are from them. This is important because they might need to take that pause when we aren't standing next to them. So we are preparing them, in their own space for the outside world. Once they succeed and have some confidence then we can take them to the world and systematically begin to slowly add their fears. The difference is, they now have the tools to deal with their fears. They have the confidence to know they can succeed in the drill we are doing, because they've already succeeded. And they already have a trusting relationship with us. None of the impulse control replaces the important science-base behavior modification tools. In fact in supports them and furthers them.

If you are working with a trainer, working the impulse control activities at home is something you can do to make the time your trainer spends with your pup more effective and will keep the project moving much faster. By having calming tools learned in a safe space, your pup be stronger when dealing with friction. Here are some examples of when it can help: when dogs react aggressively to dropped food on a walk/ food aggression, dog-dog aggression, squirrels And dogs that hate bikes/skateboard/scooters etc.

When we begin teaching impulse control, we start with just eye contact.

When you want to get your pup to be able to calm down and start to respond to stay/wait/leave it/walk away etc cues - you need to just have a little calm eye contact to begin. When I’m working with new clients, I like to work with the pup first and get the pup to and understanding, then work with the client. This is a two part skill. It’s not just about the pup understanding, it’s also about the hooman having “instructional control” (we will have a more in depth video about this concept later - right now it’s just about the pup). Just realize - its not all the dog, this is a conversation. We are working together to reach an understanding.

Early on in training, a puppy or a rescue pup might not be that comfortable. This is why training really is about the relationship. Ted, his owner and our whole team have spend time bonding so that he understands eye contact. When I meet a new dog and do an initial assessment, eye contact is one of the things I’m looking for. Dogs have their own value for eye contact.

We search each other’s eyes for meaning. We look into each other’s eye see way more eye balls. Dogs watch your eyes but don’t “stare” at you unless they feel threatened by you. Dogs have a number of behaviors that Turid Rugaas has coined “calming signals”. A look-away is actually a very polite gesture in dog lingo. This means the pup looks at you, looks away and then looks back... hello. You look-away and look back.... hi back - very polite!

Eye Contact is something humans do very gratuitously and dogs are very reserved. We teach dog that they can be more generous with eye contact when dealing with humans. When dogs give lots of eye contact, they get lots of human reward in return. We teach eye contract so dogs can learn success in the human world. Dogs understand attention as a reward and how to use attention to their benefit. We are just helping them add eye contact for more success.

I start by presenting the treat on my nose. Then I put the treat in my hand and point to my nose. I smile and coax my pup sweetly to look at me. When I get a moment of eye contact, I click and reward. I then scale from moments and glances to minutes.

I use a clicker. I start with a loaded clicker. I do not wear sunglasses any time I'm in an active training mode. As soon as I'm out of a training mode, I can put my classes back down. I am very careful to give my dogs my eye contact with actual eyes and I'm very generous when I'm training.

When I'm asking for calm behavior, I wait for the eye contact plus the panting to stop. I want us to breath together. It's truly a calm moment. If the pup is panting, he could be trying to calm himself, or he could be stressed. I want the pup to take a breath and relax. I want the pup to stop panting for just a moment. When we do this, it's the precursor to having the pup lay down and fully relax. It's important to have the humans we work with understand the dogs physical communication. I watch both the pup closely and how the human/caretaker responds. It's not about having the pup submit to our will. It's about the communication skill of the team.

Once we have a pup that can sit calmly, we have "instructional control" and eye contact. The traditional "stay" can be warped into many different meanings so we will use other term to describe it. However, I use the cue "wait" with the pups to calm behavior. This is the beginning of the impulse control. For eye contact, I say, "look". When we start adding the distraction of food, meaning please do not move from this position until I return, I use the cue "stay".

Why differentiate stay and wait? It's nuance and for many of my clients they find it not necessary. "Stay" is for a hold and remain in position until I return. A "wait" is for doorways just in between simple eye-contact and the beginning instructional control. Sometimes we just need the pups to stop. We don't need to place them into a sit but we do need them to stop. Some just use the stop cue. I like to just use wait. Pups can have multiple word for the same activity (not multiple activities for one word) so we can introduce the word "stop" later. I like to just start with wait. I like slow progressions and I don't want such a firm word so early. It's been my experience that the humans take this too far and too extreme. It becomes punitive. So I like to just begin with a wait.

The second part, the "wait" will challenge the caregiver/human as much as the pup. This is learning instructional control. Learning to smile so the pups don't feel intimidated. We learn what the body language of the pups means so we can time our holds appropriately. While we want to push each hold longer and longer, dogs don't wear watches. Don't go strictly by the clock. Watch your pup. Learning the skill of holding your pups attention is as important as the pups learning to hold still.

Once we have a good "wait" we can add distractions. This will be a more traditional "stay". We with two values of food. We have to a low value food in, for me, my right hand and a high value food in my left. I keep my left hand closed and I point to my nose with this hand. I present the low-value food (kibble) with my right starting near my face. I continuously talk and coach my pup. I want my pup to win. I help the whole time. I move my kibble hand away from my face. I sweetly ask for attention and point to me nose. As soon as I get attention and eye contact - long enough to click - I click and reward! Then I open my left hand and present the high value treat, cheese or peanut butter treats. Then we try again. I put another piece of cheese... or whatever high value treat you choose... in my hand. I present the low-value kibble. I start to move the kibble away from my face. As soon as the pup looks at my eyes. I click and reward with my left, high-value, cheesy treat. I progressively increase the longer glares and in those moments I move my right hand away from my face. My goal is to get a minute of eye contact. In that minute of eye contact I want to place the kibble right between the paws of my pup. I do not advocate for putting the treat a foot away and trying to get the pup to not move. You can eventually get the dog to stay. However, it's faster to and more impressive to get the kibble between their paws with no break in eye contact. Doing it the other way, they have less understanding. They think it's a game of who can get to it first... with a a delay on top. The true understanding is not there.

If your pup is struggling because they have food excitement, try a toy and food. You can also place the food under your palm on the ground. Then point at your nose. When the pup realizes they can't get the treat from under your palm, they will look up at you. When the pup looks up, click and reward with the left hand. Eventually they will get very excited about your left hand and keep looking at you and ignore the food in your palm. Then you can set the treat between their paws, under your palms still and when they sniff your hand look up, click and reward - keeping your right hand between their paws. Once they have reset and you have eye contact again, slip your hand gently away maintaining eye contact and talking to you pup the whole time. Click and reward. See if you can reset without having to re-cover the kibble. If you can go right back to eye contact with the kibble uncovered - jackpot!! Click and reward, then give a big treat and pick up the kibble. Put everything away and stop the session. Your pup did a great job! Karen Pryor has 10 laws of shaping and law number 10 is: "End each session on a high note, if possible, but in any case quit while you're ahead." So call it. This is what happens if you continue, it will fall apart. When you are working, the pups sees it like your asking a question and they are answering. If you keep asking after they gave the correct answer, they start to doubt it was correct. Why are they doubting? Because you keep asking. So once they give you a correct answer, stop. They don't understand that you are now drilling. They still thing this is charades and they still don't have the answer. Be gracious. It's tough to be in a world that you do not understand. They are playing charades for everything. For every basic need and comfort, they have to play a game of charades and try to figure out what action they need to act out in or to be able to be let out to pee or get food etc. It's a crazy thing to imagine. If we had to do some unnatural yoga pose or cartwheel just to ask to have basics instead of currency. And imagine we can't really communicate. It's just crazy to put ourselves in their situation. It's amazing how they adapt. They even train us.

After we have a stay pretty good, we work a system of three components: duration, distraction, distance. We increase our time, then we increase the distractions (food, locations, activity), then the distance between us. If we assume each iteration for each distance is going to take as long as the last, a linear progression, it seems like it will take forever. But each step goes faster than the last. It's a compound effect. So we work just a few seconds until we can get to a minute, then add distractions for a few seconds until we get a minute with distractions. Then we start adding just 1 or 2 steps for just a second or two until we can get a minute. Once we can get a step or two away for a minute we add distractions. Then it's back to the beginning. Add time with zero distance. We add distance with just seconds. As we keep working iterations of duration then distraction then distance then out of sight, with each one going faster and faster until we can hold a "stay" for 3 minutes out of sight.

Once we have a reliable stay, we start working leave it or a body block. Imagine you have food on the ground. If you draw a line from the pup to the food, a body block is physically putting yourself on the imaginary line and blocking that line of sight. A body block is not a physical contact or a body bump. Sometimes the pup does not stop. In this case, the pup has run into me. I try very hard to make sure we do not have any kind of contact like this during training. However, if the pup doesn't acknowledge it a body block, it can happen. We usually never more than just bump into each other and it's really just clumsiness. I don't know too many dogs that try to plow through me. They know they have to go around. However, most dogs understand this communication and will stop and back up. This is a dog communication. If a pup was socialized well as a pup, there isn't too much training necessary. If I physically block their "line", they will stop and back up.

Imagine you are cooking. I got this example from Pat Miller and I love it. If you drop and onion, which is not good for a pup, it becomes a race to see who gets there first. You can lunge for the onion. And the pup has the advantage here. Or you can just put your foot between the pup and the onion and say leave it. So much easier, right? So we use these body blocks to help us communicate with the pup to stop and not come beyond our physical presence. Eventually we can teach our pups to not cross just a line we draw with our hands even after our hands are gone. We can teach them to respond to a block as subtle as a lean or a nod when we are out on a walk. This is very helpful and effective for when we are in a city and there is traffic and lot going on. We have our pups responding to more subtle movements and learning to take cues from our movements.

We begin like our stay. We have our pup in a sit. We place a piece of food down then do a "leave it" with a physical body block and speaking the phrase. This body block and simply be drawing and imaginary line. It can be placing your whole arm down with and open palm then raising it back up. It can be your foot stepping on the imaginary line your pup would make to the food. Whatever you choose, "leave it" is a body-block between the pup and the food. Work the body block just like the stay: duration, distractions, distance.

Once you can get your pup to do a solid "leave it". The next skill is to see if they can acknowledge and a "treat" or something they deem valuable and walk away. Again we work with two treats. We drop a low value treat. And just like a leave it, we body block it and coach the pup to move away. Instead of asking the pup to simply...