How to Teach Impulse Control? – Dog Manners Course Inner West Sydney

Identify what your dog wants: use it as a reward.

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A reward can and should be anything your dog likes. Depending on the situation, it might be a walk, your attention, food, a toy or playtime with another dog.

Whatever a dog does immediately before getting what they want will be repeated. Why, because getting what they wanted became the reward for the behaviour they showed right before getting it. For example, if the dog pushes his way out of the door and manages to get out, he’ll learn that pushing his way out gets him what he wants: freedom. If jumping up on people results in pats, jumping will continue and so on.

The key here is to only reward behaviours we want the dog to repeat.

If people turn away from a jumping dog instead of giving him attention, the jumping will stop. If a dog must calm down before stepping through the door, they will learn to do so and stop getting out of control.

Practice patience!

Staying calm is critical. Frustration and irritation will only contribute to the dog’s excitability and make it harder for him to calm down. So keep yourself calm! We can’t ask the dog to slow down if we’re in a rush for results. Be prepared to put in the time and effort it takes for the dog to calm down.

Choose the behavior that you want to reward and wait for it.

There is no behaviour that a dog will sustain forever. He can’t jump or bark forever! As soon as your dog performs a behaviour you want, such as keeping all four paws on the ground or staying quiet for a few seconds, reward that behavior by giving the dog what he wants. (Or a treat!) It will only take a few repetitions for the dog to start offering this new behavior instead of the one you’re trying to stop.

Be consistent!

Teaching is only effective if we’re consistent. If one day we allow jumping and the next day we don’t, it’s confusing to the dog. So, we need to follow through with the training!

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Dog manners training is very important. Good manners make the relationship between a dog and owner a lot easier and it can even help to keep both of you safe in emergency situations. Teaching your dog at least some basic obedience is a vital part of being a responsible dog owner.

You may decide to teach your dog to perform all manner of impressive tricks and tasks, but those are optional. Basic manners training can seem either very simple or extremely difficult, depending on skill level. As a person who has competed in obedience training, I’m used to seeing amazing skills from dogs. It is truly unbelievable what dogs can do when trained. That kind of training obviously takes a lot of work, however any dog can and should learn at least the most basic and necessary commands.

By nature, your dog wants your approval. We have bred dogs to work for us, that’s why they have a strong need to please us. But dogs can’t do it without being taught what is expected of them. From basic obedience commands to advanced tricks and agility, dog training is a rewarding and engaging experience for both you and your dog.