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Manner First introduced in Kindergarten

Impulse Control

Wait before acting on a temptation: the building block of obedience.

  • Teaching
  • Reinforcing
  • Proofing
  • Maintenance

Maple's stage at Elementary

Success indicator

Dog can hold a Sit with food in front of them.

High Energy, Group Training, Variable Reinforcement

What it is

Impulse control is a crucial skill that enables dogs to resist temptations appropriately.

How we teach it

  • Leashed Obedience Foundation: Initiate training using familiar commands to establish control and obedience.
  • Gradual Distraction Introduction: Introduce controlled distractions that challenges, but does not overpower, your dog's focus.
  • Calm Observation Reinforcement: Reward and reinforce impulse control as distractions and energy levels increase.
  • Varied Environments and Distractions: Expand training settings and challenges, ensuring impulse control in diverse scenarios.
  • Consistent Maintenance Strategies: Employ consistent obedience reinforcement to maintain impulse control across different scenarios.

Practice at home

  • Be creative: There are many different ways to train impulse control. Be creative and find methods that work for you and your dog.
  • Take Photos or Videos: Capturing your progress back at home or outside will help us provide additional feedback.

Watch it

Impulse Control tutorial thumbnail

Go deeper

Impulse control is the ability of a dog to resist temptation and wait for a reward. It is an important skill for dogs to have, as it can help them to behave appropriately in a variety of situations.

Read the Impulse Control guide

Maple's record

No record yet

This skill has not been assessed for Maple yet. It will appear here after a trainer records it.

Add structure to your week

See where Impulse Control fits in Maple's personalized training plan.