Impulse Control

Okay, so in class today we did a little bit of everything - sit, down, leave it, wait, loose leash work and mat work. I had left his mat at class last week. Thankfully Christine set it aside for me. I told Christine about sitting in at Innovative K9. She didn't seem surprised at what I told her. I asked her about intermediate class and she said that it would start on November 1st. For October she's letting us go to the two scheduled classes (the 11th and the 18th) without paying any more for those two classes. We will of course have to pay for the intermediate class. So we're all set to keep training with Harley.

Christine said we really need to work on impulse control with Harley. Basically impulse control is getting him to wait on things (food, going in and out the door, petting). He does it a little bit but I need to work with him a lot more than I have to this point. I'm thinking of asking Christine if we can do one individual session for the impulse control stuff so I can write stuff down and videotape the exercises. I'll have to email her and ask if that would be possible. I'd like to go at a slower pace and focus on what we need to do to help Harley become a well behaved dog.

I think it would also benefit us so David and I can be on the same page with training. There is a lot we need to do to help Harley out and getting some individual training could really benefit all of us. I also want Christine to know that I'm really serious about helping Harley become a Canine Good Citizen.

Speaking of Harley, he's laying down in his kennel. He is really pooped from today's class. Star and Smokey were in class today. Rocky was there for a little while also. Christine had her GSP there for half the class. His name is Junior. Then Junior went home with her mom and Ginger joined us. The bigger dogs put Harley in his place and set boundaries with him. Actually even the smaller dogs set boundaries with him. Harley gets so out of control when he's around other dogs. He wants to play and he's kind of rough and frantic. I want to have him meet other dogs but he just plays too rough right now. I'm sure he'll get calmer as he gets older.

I was looking up impulse control stuff for dogs online. There's quite a bit of information out there. There were also some suggestions for exercises I could add to what Christine has given me. Now that I'm aware of the work we need to do regarding impulse control, I can see in almost every situation how I could make him wait on something (door, food, petting) and work on impulse control. I think it all just boils down to me spending a lot more focused time with Harley and making everything we do every day a learning opportunity.

It's nice that Harley got a certificate for finishing up his six classes but I really don't feel he's graduated yet. He still has a lot to learn. Or should I say, I have a lot more to learn. ;)