If you are lucky enough to have a crazy dog, I’m sure you’ve yelled “Settle down!” (and several other choice phrases) at your dog.
If you are even luckier, and are currently experiencing the great joys and great annoyance of a puppy or adolescent dog in your home, you probably really have had those words come out of your mouth. I know I have – a lot lately with the 9 month old cattle dog puppy. You have my greatest empathy. And my faith that you will prevail. I have faith I will, too, but holy hell, it’s a struggle some days, right??
Side note / Pro tip: You can call your dog every bad name you can think of. As long as you’re smiling when you say it, they have no idea you just called them a devil turd dog. Trust me. Been there. Done that.
How do you turn this thing off??
We spend a lot of time in dog training working with our dogs. We want their focus, their engagement, and their little brains tuned into us. This is so great when we are training them. Having a bright, focused dog ready to learn can be nearly magical. But sometimes, you want to just veg on the couch. How in the word do you turn your dog off?
The settle exercise
One of the things we strongly focus on at the shelter I volunteer at is working with the dogs on a “settle” behavior. Everything else involves the dog being “on,” ready to focus on us and work with us, but sometimes they just need to chill out. That’s the beauty of the settle. Dogs who are otherwise always on, always keyed up, or always stressed out learn that there is a magical place, the settle mat, that is their safe place to tune out and chill out.
By the way, a settle mat is not some fancy piece of equipment. I’ve seen people use washcloths, rugs, shower mats, and kennel mats. I usually use one of those cheap woven rugs you can get at nearly any store, because I can roll them up and shove them in my bag (the mat is portable!) – and it’s no real expense to replace them when needed.
I didn’t invent the settle. I’m probably not even close to the best practitioner of it. But I do think it is a hugely valuable tool to put in your arsenal, especially for those times when throttling your dog may look just a wee bit like the way to go. (Seriously, don’t throttle your dog. Call a trainer. But it’s okay to feel that way once in a while.)
The quick version
Here’s the short version of how the settle exercise works:
- put down a mat
- ignore your dog
- throw one treat at a time on to the mat until you’re up to about 10
- throw a treat off the mat so the dog gets off of it
- move the mat
- throw 10 more treats, one at a time (and repeat steps 3-5 over and over)
- speed up the treats a bit when the dog offers a sit or, even better, lies down
- don’t say anything. don’t ask for any behaviors
- do this again and again in all kinds of different places
- dog learns to chill on mat
There are many different ways to teach this (though the above steps are my favorite – shelter tried and tested, too), but in the end, the result is that the dog learns that going to his mat means it’s time for him to calm down.
Relax, already!
The point with all this is that learning to be calm and relax is just as important to our dogs, especially our young, wild dogs, as it is for them to learn all kinds of neat behaviors when they are working with us.
I think it’s similar to learning to relax as an adult. It’s important to have a relaxing activity to just chill out and walk away from stress for a while. Maybe that’s reading, yoga, stretching, walking, napping, praying, or meditating… but whatever it is, our lives are not complete and fulfilled without it. We all need a little down time, even our dogs.
Your turn: Do you need to learn a skill to help you relax? Or is your dog on your last nerve with all the crazy energy? What are your next steps?