self control Archives - Smart Dog University

Patience is a virtue.

Self control doesn’t come naturally to dogs. We need to teach them how to wait politely. One of the first things I teach dogs that come through our house is to wait nicely. Wait for me to put their food bowl down, wait to go out the door, wait to jump into the car, wait to exit their crate, wait at a curb…you get the picture.

I like to teach dogs to wait at the food bowl first. Most dogs are quite interested in their meals and are quite invested in learning how to get to their meal in the fastest manner.

Here’s how I teach wait at the food bowl.

Start with a food bowl filled with about 40 pieces of food.

Lower the food bowl slowly toward the floor.

Your goal is to get the food bowl to your knee without the dog moving toward the bowl.

If your dog moves toward the bowl, pull the bowl directly back up to at least waist height.

If you reach your knee without the dog moving toward the bowl, click, give your dog a piece of food and start over at your waist.

Repeat two or three times.

Your new goal is to get 1″ – 2″ lower than your knee. Click and give your dog a treat if you get to your goal.

Pull the food bowl straight up if the dog dives in for the food.

Continue until you’re able to put the food bowl on the floor without your dog diving in to the bowl.

Watch the video to see exactly how to teach your dog to wait until you release him to move toward the bowl.

Talk back.

What has worked for you when teaching your dog to wait for his food?

Labrador puppy looking at treat hand, waiting politely for food. — Levi waits patiently for his treat.

Puppies are like sponges.

They soak up everything — good habits, bad habits, learn new things, and visit new places. When raising a puppy destined for service work, we like to capitalize on that “drink it all in” attitude and give the puppy all the learning he’s interested in taking in.

I thought it would be fun to share with you Levi’s learning goals for his first month in training.

Click on the link below to see the chart. At first glance, it seems like we’re cramming a lot into four short weeks, but puppies love to learn and are capable of learning at least this much (probably more, if you had more time to teach them).

Behavior Chart for Levi’s first month

Each week shows what new concepts the puppy is expected to learn (or at least be introduced to). It’s also expected that we continue teaching everything that was introduced, as we move forward. For example, in Week 2, we’re introducing loose leash walking to Levi, and we’re also expected to continue to advance the skills we introduced in Week 1 such as recall, settle, and hurry up (house training).

I set out to make a video to show you how we teach a puppy the simple task of sitting on cue. Puppies, however, have their own agenda, and Levi took us in a different direction. In this video, Levi is about 11 weeks old, very new to training in general, and has only had maybe one or two clicker training sessions under his belt prior to filming.

What started as a “sit” video turned quickly into a “don’t mug me for the treats” video. No worries, we’ll publish the video on sitting shortly, but in the meantime, this turned out to be a more valuable lesson for Levi, and hopefully for your dog who “mugs” you for food.

Teach Your Dog to Wait for His Food

Patience is a virtue.

Here’s how I teach wait at the food bowl.

Talk back.

Puppy Training: Teach Self Control Around Food

Puppies are like sponges.

I thought it would be fun to share with you Levi’s learning goals for his first month in training.

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self control

Patience is a virtue.

Here’s how I teach wait at the food bowl.

Talk back.

Puppies are like sponges.

I thought it would be fun to share with you Levi’s learning goals for his first month in training.

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