May Day Nine -- Control Youself

Sia's Achilles’ heel is her self control. It can be such a challenge for her but she always tries so hard. One of her impulses is to grab what she pleases. A tug toy in one's hand seems to really test Sia. But we've been working hard on waiting for permission to grab things out of my hand. It pays off well for her to do so.

She loves to play tug and she knows I will play with her only if she waits for an invite. Try to grab it out of my hand without an invite? Oh, too bad, toy is put away. This works well for her too if she doesn't drop when asked to do so. I'm sorry, we're done playing. That drives her crazy and she learns very quickly what the rules are if she wants to continue playing.

Another big challenge for her is when I walk by with the cat food bowl. Of course I don't want to give her cat food as a reward so I instead use a lot of praise and talk to her while I'm carrying the bowl. If she jumps up, oh, too bad, a quick time-out. She would much rather follow me sniffing that stinky cat food than being in a time-out. Maybe the cat will even let Sia lick her ears if she's really nice...

Some of the things we have worked on this week overlap. Establishing leadership with a dog sometimes looks a lot like teaching self-control. By using body blocks at places such as the doorway, you are teaching Sia to control her actions on her own. It's much easier than having to physically restrain her and she starts to realize she's not the one calling the shots.

Good leadership and self-control start to spill into other areas of her life as well (how nice that it's a bit contagious!). Her barking has been minimal and easily redirected at first bark with a "That's enough" and a quick peak out the window to show her that I see what she is barking at and let her know that I've got it handled.

And soon she's pudding in your hand. Well, maybe it's not that easy, but over time you will start to see some really nice changes as Sia learns to control some of the impulses. And the best part is you don't lose that gleeful enthusiasm that she exudes.