How Do You Use Play Training for Impulse Control? What is Impulse Control? (Part 3 of 4 Series)

This is Shana demonstrating some impulse control while we play and food train.   Sometimes I use just food reward or just toy reward.  In this instance, I am using both food and toy.  Shana's impulse is to rip the toy apart right before my eyes OR not give it up at all.   Impulse control is when the dog is not doing something that they would like to do in the moment.  When you are using play, they are controlling their impulse because they want the game to go on, instead of being corrected in more traditional training methods.

Note: Our next blog will go over what play training provides for you that is different than traditional dog training, and why you might want to use it.

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The photo above is not the start of adding obedience to  your play training, as that is more towards the middle.   How do you start obedience in your play training?

Note:  the underlined text below goes to past articles on that subject.

1. ​You would have already built engagement and duration into your play training.
2. As for obedience, my preference is to have already started it in more traditional ways, and I keep it separate from my play training until ready.  You can start obedience with your play/food training though.  There are restrained recall methods, food luring methods, dead man's hold for starting outs, leave its by controlling hand with treat, and so on.  You can start your obedience after you have built your play training up for engagement OR you can have already started it through other methods before hand.
3. When you start using play training for your basic obedience, you are going to have to start simply, have patience, and wait for the behavior that you want.
4. Keep the game fresh and balance that with getting the performance you want.   This is a really hard part.  If you are new to this, it is going to take time and attention to detail to start to get what you want.  For instance, if your dog's excitement starts to flatten out, you could be doing too much obedience in that session (or have gone on too long in the session).   
5. The simplest obedience exercises to start with are out, leave it, sit, very short stay, and retrieve.
6. Remember the rules of play training as you add obedience into it, except number 4 on the list.   Also remember the play training mistakes to avoid.

Play training is a balancing act.   You want to be sure that the game is fun, and that your dog is motivated to continue the game.   Never forget those two points.

As always, we love questions from those following our blog.   Feel free to ask questions on the blog or on our Facebook Page or on our Facebook Group.