Clean Run - June 2020 - 17

of if you don't make a meal out of it.
However, self-control/impulse control needs to be built carefully-certainly with regard to the age of the dog
you're training, but it needs to be built
all the same.

Have you ever watched the bus or
coach drivers that drive kids around
on holiday or to and from school?
I can remember taking a group of
young teenagers to a recorder performance. There were five of them
in my car, and they were having a
competition to see who could play a
song on their recorder via their nose.
I missed my turnoff. I'd driven that
route hundreds of times and knew
exactly where I was going. But I simply couldn't think straight with that
amount of noise, much less drive
a car and remember where I was

supposed to be going. The professionals have practice at tuning out the
noise and distractions, and they can
concentrate in the face of those distractions. Sound familiar?
If you have a dog that suffers from
overexcitement, who doesn't know
how to channel that excitement
and arousal into his work, there
are a few things you can do to help.
Unfortunately, they all take work, and
this is the boring side of agility. It is
not a sexy, new handling move; it's dog
training 101. However, it is essential
for an excitable dog.
Can your dog sit whilst you throw
a ball over his head? If not, work on
it little by little. As with everything
else, we want to build on success.
This is not an opportunity to correct!
Corrections inhibit as we've already
discussed. We don't want to make our
dogs miserable because miserable
dogs aren't excited, and making them
miserable won't help them control
themselves when they do get excited.
If your dog can't sit whilst a ball is
thrown, ask your dog to sit, go two
paces away, and very slowly place the
ball on the floor in front of him. Then
go back to his side, release him to get
the ball, and celebrate! Don't forget
that celebration; this is hard work!
Progress to walking out and dropping the ball onto the floor from your

hand, then move out halfway and gently throw the ball a foot or so, then
go to standing next to your dog and
throwing the ball out ahead. All of this
needs to happen before finally starting
behind him and throwing the ball over
his head. If a dog is really struggling,
try feeding him as you drop the ball
and then releasing.
What have we achieved? Our dog,
whose impulse was to immediately chase that ball down, has learnt to
take control of that impulse. Impulse
control.
If you're inventive enough, there are
all sorts of areas at home when you
can work on self-control. Does your
dog go nuts when the doorbell rings?
Break it down, work on it. You can
download all sorts of sounds for your
phone. Can your dog hold a stay
whilst you open the door? If your dog
finds various environments exciting, take him out and about. Carnival
coming to town? Take your dog. Kids'
football match nearby? Take your
dog! You can make excuses, but where
there's a will there's a way! And, the
more work you do, the easier it gets.
How does the idea of taking an agility
class without your crate or your dog's
lead grab you? Have your dog off lead
and under control during the whole
class. Confident? In reality, we don't
want our dogs interfering with others,

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Clean Run - June 2020

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