I oftentimes hear dog owners misinterpreting their dog’s over excitement, spastic energy, and hyper arousal as happiness. Whether it’s the anticipation of greeting a stranger on your walks, going for a car ride, or simply transitioning from one area of the house to another, if your dog is off the chain by the mere shuffle of your feet, it isn’t because he’s overjoyed - he’s clearly just incapable of self-regulating.
Sweet Ares falls victim to this intensely elevated State of Mind - Always on alert. Nervous about the slightest creek in the floor boards, Most would see Ares as a mere ball of energy, so excited that he can’t control himself, but in reality, Ares suffers from high anxiety at anything new or unfamiliar.
Trigger-happy. Auto-pilot. Hyper-responsive. Acting without thinking. Zero self-control.
When our dogs are in this constant state of frenzy, it is nearly impossible for them to listen or make good choices.
Focusing on calming exercises where impulse control is regularly practiced is immensely important in SLOWING these types of dogs down - Threshold manners, Crate manners, Structured Walk, lengthy daily Duration in Place or a Down - where a dog learns how to control his responses regardless of what’s occurring around him.
We are one week into Ares’ training and have worked to build up this kiddo’s reliability in each of his commands. Our final Impulse Control tests on campus proved to be easy-peasy for him! We will be working hard on cultivating a mindset that goes beyond basic obedience, where we can access Calm On Command at any given moment.
