3 Training for impulse control in dogs [Profi]
Definition of impulse control
Impulse control is the ability not to act on an impulse. The impulse can be an innate reflex or a spontaneous action. Impulse control in dogs means that the dog can control its actions and emotions. It is therefore self-control, which is like a battery and a muscle at the same time. An exercise can only be practised a few times in a row because the battery is exhausted for the time being. This also applies to the rest of the day. The dog's ability to concentrate wanes and it becomes impatient. For your impulse control training in dogs, this means always practising short units.
If your dog has had to show a lot of patience during training or in everyday life, its battery will be empty and it will find simple everyday situations difficult. After short training sessions, your dog should be given enough time to recover.
In the blog post What is impulse control you can read more about what impulse control in dogs is and how you can influence and encourage it. Before you start, be sure to take a look at the impulse control training for beginners and the impulse control training for advanced learners.
Training tips
There are a few tricks that we can generally use to promote impulse control in our dog. You can find out more about this in the article What is impulse controlSelf-control can be specifically strengthened to make training easier and make life more pleasant for our dogs. Impulse control training is an important aspect of building and improving your dog's patience and concentration in general. Since training is much more intensive for your dog than some other training, you should implement the tips first.
Tip 1: RitualsImpulse control costs your dog a great deal of stamina and focus. Everyday life sometimes seems impossible for your dog with exhausted self-control. Banal everyday situations present your dog with a great challenge and cause him to react impulsively. In general, you should create a fixed daily routine and rituals for your dog that offer your dog security. Rituals are actions that always take place in the same way. They are important in everyday dog life because they give the dog a clear line, improve communication between you and your dog and generally lead to an improvement in the dog's well-being. If we build up ritualised actions, they will eventually become automatic. Rituals are important signposts for our dogs as to what they can expect and how they should behave. Through constant repetition, your dog can master everyday situations more easily and they no longer require a lot of patience because they are almost automatic. If impulse control is then seriously needed, your dog does not have a completely empty self-control battery. He could save the battery in ritualised everyday situations and use it for serious situations .
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Tip 2: Nerve foodSelf-control requires a lot of energy, which can be positively favoured through feeding. So-called "nerve food" is carbohydrate-rich food. Miller et al (2010) showed in their study that dogs have an increased energy consumption when exercising impulse control. Dogs that were given a glucose drink were able to double their self-control. The effects of available blood glucose had an influence on the ability of dogs to control themselves. Blood glucose can be increased by carbohydrates in Dog Food. How many carbohydrates your dog tolerates is very individual. Within the same breed, there are pronounced differences in the ability of dogs to digest carbohydrates. In order for dogs to digest cereals well, rice, pasta and the like must be cooked long enough to be able to utilise the starch they contain. Carbohydrates that dogs tolerate particularly well are potatoes, rice and pasta. You can find out more about carbohydrates that are long-chain or short-chain and gluten-free carbohydrates for your dog in the blog What is impulse control. |
Tip 3: Rest and relaxationSufficient rest and sleep is one of your dog's basic physical or biological needs. an adult and healthy dog needs between 16 and 20 hours of rest, puppies or sick dogs even more. impulse control requires a lot of energy from your dog . the energy must be recharged through sufficient sleep and rest. not every dog has learned to actively rest. rest can and must be learned and is built up through blanket training. hyperactive dogs in particular must learn to rest. you can learn how to create a Use the core territory for rest and relaxation in the article The 4 most important house rules for your dog. Sleep helps your dog to cope with stress because the stress hormone cortisol is lowered during sleep. Cortisol is released in stressful situations and must then be reduced again to prevent permanent stress. If your dog does not get enough sleep, the cortisol level remains high and your dog feels even more stress. Exercise also reduces the stress hormone cortisol. Stressed dogs that do not get enough rest compensate for their stress through exercise. Stress and exercise, i.e. restlessness, promote renewed stress. The vicious circle begins and a stressed dog becomes a hyperactive dog that is stressed. |
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IMPULSE CONTROL FOR PROFESSIONALS TRAINING
Impulskontrolle kann und muss trainiert werden. Sie gehört zu den Kernkompetenzen, die jeder Hund erlernen muss. Jedes Training beginnt zunächst in einer reizarmen Umgebung und muss später auf alle möglichen Alltagssituationen übertragen werden. Man nennt das “Generalisierung”. Im Alltag kannst du nur das von deinem Hund verlangen, was du mit ihm geübt und trainiert hast. Ein “Sitz” Zuhause ist für deinen Hund etwas anders, als ein “Sitz” draussen. Hast du das “Sitz” draussen noch nicht geübt, ist es für deinen Hund fast wie ein neues Training. Die Impulskontrolle ist situationsabhängig und leider nicht generalisierbar. Für deinen Hund ist die Impulskontrolle also jedes Mal eine komplett neue Situation. Trotzdem kann ein genereller Aufbau und ein Training von Impulskontrolle sinnvoll sein. Dein Hund wird vom geduldigen Warten am Napf nicht dem weglaufenden Hasen auf dem Feld widerstehen. Dennoch sorgt eine gut trainierte Selbstkontrolle beim Hund für generelle Kontrollierbarkeit im
Before you start with impulse control for professionals, you should look at impulse control for beginners and impulse control for advanced learners and practise with your dog.
When training, we recommend that you practise very short training sessions of no more than 5 minutes with your dog. You can incorporate impulse control training repeatedly throughout the day and then give your dog plenty of rest periods. It is best not to practise impulse control before a walk or before stressful situations (e.g. a visit to the vet). Your dog will not want any additional training before situations that require a lot of self-control. Endure impulse control training.
Pay attention to the following points during training:
- Have realistic expectations of your dog
- Start light and increase the training in small steps
- Be clear in your hearing & sight signals
- Practise for 1-5 minutes at a time and more often
- Stay patient! You are practising self-control, so keep your impulses under control too
- Give your dog enough rest
- Reward a lot (use dog biscuits made from millet, oatmeal or quinoa as nerve food, for example)
When training impulse control for professional dogs, we have focussed training with patience in the form of movement stimuli and food distraction. You can download all training sessions as a training plan free of charge by registering in our member area.
Leash control Pro
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Action cancellation
The Long Leash has a function: it should prevent self-praising behaviour. If your dog does not respond to the stop signal, you can use the Long Leash to prevent it. Then make your training easier and gradually increase the level of difficulty. |
Lining & Basics
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