Capping Drive - Page 2

The agility folks call it "impulse control". A lot of the BC folks have the same issue. My agility instructor Rachel Long tells me impulse control is all about attention. Some folks use the book "Control Unleashed".

I am really having to work on this with my 1 year mal. He gets SO excited over the least little thing - and then when we actually do something, he just goes bongos. At the end of the day, he does have an off switch and will curl up with me on the sofa and sleep while I watch tv.

I first worked on keeping him in a sedentary down with distractions. Then I got him excited playing with the tug and asked for obedience. I asked for longer duration too. We are now doing play/obedience next to a dog park. I plan to keep adding more and more stimulating situations. I rotate the reward with a ball on a rope, tug, and bite pillow. The most important thing I've found with my dog is that he has to have a physical outlet for the energy that he is holding back when I ask him for obedience - food does not do it - he goes bongos on the release.  For example, asking him to sit/stay and then calmly go thru the front door did not work well until I rewarded him with a ball on a rope and he got to carry it to the car. He has improved in the last 4 months and some of that has to do with age. I am spending more time on focused attention heeling and that is helping too.

With this dog, I need to teach impulse or self control away from the decoy first. The decoy is too high of a reward for my dog to even think clearly - he really goes bongos and acts like a fool - spinning, high pitched bark, shaking when sitting or down, etc. My next step will be to ask for obedience next to the training field with the decoy on it. Then we will go to the field and do ob bites.

The Michael Ellis video explained the topic in a good way for me http://youtu.be/a0Y3HVWbJ7s

Just want to thank everyone for their thoughtful replies. I got a few PM's too. Not everyone seems to agree about this, it was even suggested the title to my thread was considered "obsolete".  And I had just heard about it, so I'm swirling around lots of thoughts with my own observations. 

So, thanks for the thinking material, even after all this time, I keep learning new stuff from some pretty nice people.  I don't always say it, so I wanted to make sure I said it, this time! 

That video of Michael Ellis is a really good explanation, you just have to get past listening to ol' Ed.  

Love your German accent, Slam - very good to understand for me...

"Not everyone seems to agree about this, it was even suggested the title to my thread was considered "obsolete"."

In what way do people disagree - the training methods (there will always be more than one way to skin a cat)? What is obsolete - the terminology? Just curouis. You are leaving us hanging!
 

Susie,
I had Bernhard Flinks come over for a Police seminar several times.  At one seminar a handler was describing a problem with his dog and Bernhard asked to see the dog.  As soon as the Handler brought the dog out, Flinks said "uhhhh, I see the problem your obedience is shitttttt. This is shit obedience!"  All of us including the handler found that to be very funny and I have used it several times since.  He was right the handlers obedience was shit.  Sometimes, it is really nice to get right to the point.

asomich,

It was suggested that using the term "capping drive" is the same as admitting the dog is so badly trained (I would be the lousy trainer), because my dog never learned how to perform as he should. This person also preferred the idea or term "conditioning" as opposed to training so a dog would be balanced and be able to, I guess, understand that a command has an opposite, and the dog will learn both and therefore, be able to self correct.

At least I think that is what this person was trying to convey to myself. I have not watched that M. Ellis video yet, but I will. So I can't really comment about how that fits with what I just wrote above. I'll get to it, I promise!
 

So what you are saying is that "capping drive" or "impulse control" really isn't a separate issue/problem/training component but is just under the umbrella of good obedience. Yes, I can buy that. If I take my dog for example, I'm not doing anything really different, I'm just having to add more incremental steps and proofing for his regular obedience because that is what his temperament requires. So when someone tells you that you need to cap your dog's drive, they just need to say that you need to improve your dog's obedience.

Capping drive is not the same as discussing the amount of drive a dog has.  You can still cap a dog that is higher medium drive and have a great working or sport dog.  It doesn't mean squashing a dog from having too much drive either.  I have trouble explaining it and at first had trouble understanding it until I needed to DO it on the field.  Sheesh's posts/links are the best.

Ok, I went back and read the link with a different pair of thinking glasses. Capping drive is the PROCESS of building up and releasing drive to the appropriate level that you want your dog to work at for that particular exercise and situation. Drive can be built up and released using different methods.

This is a great topic and I'm enjoying the conversation.