Helping Dogs Learn to Calm Themselves - Boxer Forums

**tootsie** · 03-03-2009, 01:09 PM

Helping Dogs Learn to Calm Themselves

This is an imperative lesson for dogs to learn. They need to be helped on how to calm themselves. It starts with a 6 foot leather leash and a flat collar. DO NOT use a choke or any other sort of collar for this learning. This exercise is used when dogs become agitated or excited about something. That would usually be about wanting to meet a person or dog or about wanting to jump up on you.

The first thing you need to start with is some distance if the cause of excitement is something other than you. This may be 30 - 50 feet at first if outside or 10- 20 if you are indoors. It will be the amount of distance your dog needs to not be able to rush at the object and you being able to maintain control of him. You will have the 6 foot leash on your dog and you will be managing the other end of the leash during this time. When the dog pulls wanting to go towards the object you are going to STOP. That means ALL forward motion ceases. Your dog is NOT going to DRAG you towards what he is wanting to get at. He is learning to practice self-control. Once you have stopped you are going to step on the leash about ½ way up so that your dog has access to about 3 feet of leash. You will be holding the other half of the leash from your foot to hand tight, so as to prevent your dog from sending you flying if he pulls on his half of the leash. You are going to let your dog manage his end of the leash by creating his own slack or tightness on it. The object is for your dog to learn to calm himself, by himself, by standing calmly, sitting or laying down. The command for this is “good settle.” and when he does this you will praise him for it. Your involvement during this time can be calmly rubbing him ONLY when he has calmed himself down NOT when he is jumping and lunging. Remember we are using reward and consequences during this exercise. Good areas for rubbing are on the check, neck and shoulder. Don’t use patting or vigorous rubbing, keep it slow like massaging when he is calming himself.

If he is still jumping or lunging on his 3 foot of leash you are going to shorten the length on him by moving your foot up the leash further towards him. Now he has only 2 foot of leash to navigate with. This will allow him less leash so he will be forced to reconsider his behaviors again. Hopefully he is deciding that his frantic efforts to jump on you or get to objects is not happening and he is starting to settle down. If not, you will shorten the leash to 1 ½ feet in length for him and see if that helps him calm himself. If not take up another bit of leash so that he only has 1 foot of leash to operate on. This might be giving him little room but to lay down and that’s okay. Once the dog starts to settle you stop taking up the amount of his leash length. It is now a “good settle” for him. Praise and rub him when he is calm, not when acting wildly, that only promotes the behavior. Never during this exercise are you to pin him down so he has no choice, it is all about him making the choice to calm or he gets the consequence of less leash on which he gets to operate should he choose to be wild. As he starts to settle down for a decent amount of time (a couple of minutes) you are going to back off the leash and give him more back again as he remains calm with using this reward and consequence. If the commotion starts up again you will repeat the procedure for learning self calming again.

By NANO/ for BOXER FORUMS

03-03-2009, 01:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
tootsie Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Sunny Florida Posts: 7,792	Helping Dogs Learn to Calm Themselves Helping Dogs Learn to Calm Themselves This is an imperative lesson for dogs to learn. They need to be helped on how to calm themselves. It starts with a 6 foot leather leash and a flat collar. DO NOT use a choke or any other sort of collar for this learning. This exercise is used when dogs become agitated or excited about something. That would usually be about wanting to meet a person or dog or about wanting to jump up on you. The first thing you need to start with is some distance if the cause of excitement is something other than you. This may be 30 - 50 feet at first if outside or 10- 20 if you are indoors. It will be the amount of distance your dog needs to not be able to rush at the object and you being able to maintain control of him. You will have the 6 foot leash on your dog and you will be managing the other end of the leash during this time. When the dog pulls wanting to go towards the object you are going to STOP. That means ALL forward motion ceases. Your dog is NOT going to DRAG you towards what he is wanting to get at. He is learning to practice self-control. Once you have stopped you are going to step on the leash about ½ way up so that your dog has access to about 3 feet of leash. You will be holding the other half of the leash from your foot to hand tight, so as to prevent your dog from sending you flying if he pulls on his half of the leash. You are going to let your dog manage his end of the leash by creating his own slack or tightness on it. The object is for your dog to learn to calm himself, by himself, by standing calmly, sitting or laying down. The command for this is “good settle.” and when he does this you will praise him for it. Your involvement during this time can be calmly rubbing him ONLY when he has calmed himself down NOT when he is jumping and lunging. Remember we are using reward and consequences during this exercise. Good areas for rubbing are on the check, neck and shoulder. Don’t use patting or vigorous rubbing, keep it slow like massaging when he is calming himself. If he is still jumping or lunging on his 3 foot of leash you are going to shorten the length on him by moving your foot up the leash further towards him. Now he has only 2 foot of leash to navigate with. This will allow him less leash so he will be forced to reconsider his behaviors again. Hopefully he is deciding that his frantic efforts to jump on you or get to objects is not happening and he is starting to settle down. If not, you will shorten the leash to 1 ½ feet in length for him and see if that helps him calm himself. If not take up another bit of leash so that he only has 1 foot of leash to operate on. This might be giving him little room but to lay down and that’s okay. Once the dog starts to settle you stop taking up the amount of his leash length. It is now a “good settle” for him. Praise and rub him when he is calm, not when acting wildly, that only promotes the behavior. Never during this exercise are you to pin him down so he has no choice, it is all about him making the choice to calm or he gets the consequence of less leash on which he gets to operate should he choose to be wild. As he starts to settle down for a decent amount of time (a couple of minutes) you are going to back off the leash and give him more back again as he remains calm with using this reward and consequence. If the commotion starts up again you will repeat the procedure for learning self calming again. By NANO/ for BOXER FORUMS __________________ Lisa Owned by Maddie - rescued fff born 3/19/05 Mom and servant to skin kids Brianna and Brandon and 2 evil kitties. Forever in my heart...My sweet angel Buster romping at the bridge. 8/29/99-3/4/06 CafePress Store \| Boxer Forums Clothing