This video is a tutorial on how to teach your puppy or dog to be calm.
Some dogs need help to learn how to relax. Calmness does not come naturally to some breeds .By reinforcing your dog for being calm, your dog will start to choose calmer behaviors in the future and actually enjoy being calm.
Tips for teaching a Default Settle:
Don't drop treats if the dog looks up at your hand as you move to give the dog the treat, instead try again later.
Don't cue the dog "down". It works better if the dog figures it out on his own and CHOOSES to lay down.
Use high value treats like real meat or cheese for such a wonderful behavior.
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#dogtraining #dogtrainingsettle #capturingcalmness
great vid, i play a calm game with my dogs, while out on walks in the field, all of a sudden i drop to a sit on the grass and i wait for my dogs to start mirroring me and relaxing and i reward this. its fun:))
Great tutorial Em. Timing is certainly one of the hardest parts of training, even when one knows better, I’ve made mistakes with that. Luckily, it can be remedied! Thanks to you I am aware of how important it is to reinforce calmness. Thx girlie xxx
Very helpful! You point out areas that I was having problems with, and now I see why and what I can do about it. As usual, it’s me and not the dogs! Why we humans think we are so much smarter than they are is beyond me! Thanks for all that you do, Emily.
your seminar covered this, and all these calm-behaviours have changed archie’s life. He can even stay laying (RELAXED!) while I get up to pee sometimes now! This is huge progress from the dog who couldn’t relax except in a covered crate. THANK YOU EMILY.
@UTRoscoe It does no harm to reinforce calmness 🙂 Also a lot of people tend to think “phew, thank goodness fluffy is laying down! lets not disturb him!” rather than, what a great time to give fluffy reinforcement and attention!
Just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU for this…it’s made a huge difference for me and my dog! My two-year-old rescue border collie had no idea how to relax. We did great in our training classes but he didn’t understand the concept of “off time”. When we weren’t actively training he was always pestering me to do something which was really stressful on us both! Now, though, after using this technique he will lay calmly while I’m in the kitchen or watching TV. Thank you!
i use a lot of your amazing videos for clients, i would love to see you START this one with a really large hyper dog because people don’t know how to start and find that single moment of calmness, sometimes just staying safe around being near the dog in a moment because as soon as they are thinking about looking for the dog’s right behavior, the dog senses and acts crazy – im talking extreme examples unfortunately all too common ! but would love that video from you since i am not good at getting my own videos done 🙂 see you at expo Emily !
Brilliant to see that calm and relax can be taught, thanks for sharing, your training techniques are great and easy to follow. I teach my dogs to be calm and relax on cue, they do and seem to appreciate it, but my clients find it hard to believe as it is rarely suggested in many classes etc. I will send them to your video so they can see it works and that I’m not the only one – thank you so much, dogs will benefit hugely 🙂
I just wanted to make sure to let you know how well this method is working for my almost 4 month old Aussie, Finn. For anyone watching this video, make sure you do everything she says in this video exactly the way she says. And make sure you are in a calm state of mind too, just relax, don’t give your dog attention if he jumps on you, just set him back down on the floor. If he wont lay down, try having him sit and say good boy and then wait for him to decide to lay down on his own. Don’t stare at him as you wait, just watch him out of the corner of your eye or glance back and forth. When he lays down, treat him immediately. You can even pet him or scratch his back every so often as a reward, to show him you are aware of his presence and as if to say “i like this, this is enjoyable time together”. Also, make sure he is not thinking about the treat or doing that head down thing splash did. My dog now lays completely on his side as if taking a nap. It has made him calmer overall too 🙂
I have a 4 month old Aussie, Faith. I have a hard time getting her to calm down even when she is tired. When she is tired, it’s the worst. She runs around like crazy and bites my legs and feet. I just usually wait it out and eventually she will lay down and fall asleep but it takes a while before that happens. I also tell her to ly down which works sometimes but not always. I probably should have her on a leash more often so I can more easily control her. I will try this out and see how it works. It sounds like you have had success with it with your Aussie so I bet it will work with mine. Thanks for the tips.
This video alone changed my life and my puppy’s life. I work from home and the day we started training this she is a new puppy! All your videos are great but thank you for this one in particular!!
After only two sessions of practicing this, my 4 mo Lab/German Shepherd mix is extremely calmer. It has also helped her calm down around other dogs a lot too. During session 2, I had my friend’s dog (who doesn’t like her puppyness) sit in the room, and while she had a lot harder time with that, but she still figured it out pretty quick! Now I am sitting in my office with both of them, with plenty of peace and quiet.
I used this with both my current dogs and it’s been great. They are much calmer all the time and will normally settle when asked to – thanks for your excellent videos. I have recommended this to so many people 🙂
I came here to say this has worked like a dream with our 4 month old hound. We started enforcing calmness at 7 weeks and it was really easy for her to understand that laying down and relaxing would get her treats. She does this behavior at dinner time, on the train, at cafés and shopping centers. People are amazed to see such a calm puppy and don’t believe me when I say she also has a jumping, biting and growling side to her.
Thank you Emily for giving such good advice!
Great to hear! Keep up the good work!
Hey, We just started doing this training with our puppy, but we are unsure of how many times a day/how long the sessions should be? do you have any advice about this?
@Nico The shorter you can make your training sessions, the better. That way you give the dog time to think about what just happened, and keep them interested in the training.
For capturing calmness, the “training session” is only a few seconds long, enough to give one unexpected reward when you catch puppy relaxing. You don’t need to do this one more than once or twice a day, either.
You also want to build duration in the “settle” behaviour, and teach puppy to stay relaxed long enough for a real life situation. Make the session shorter than the maximum time you are confident your puppy can handle, so that they don’t break the behaviour by themselves. The cue to “get up” should always come from you. Don’t do too many sessions, rather focus on having a good set-up every time. Once a day or less is fine, it’s more important to keep up the training over time, as your puppy enters new stages of development and long into adulthood you will need to enforce the training, especially when there are new environments or distractions.
@Emma Memma Hey Thank you very much for the quick and detailed answer, it would appear that we are doing it correctly then, may you have a nice day and a safe 2021 =)
@Nico Thanks a lot! All the best to you and good luck with your puppy 🙂
I don’t know who would “dislike” this video. It really truly works. My insaneeee puppy is already catching on after like 2 days. He’s super smart but he’s been laying at my feet for 10+ mins and no treats in the last 10 mins. He got treats for about 5 mins straight and now none and he’s just chillinnnnn. Def gonna be working on this til he masters it
Ah, if a video gets lots of views it gets dislikes. People have conflicting belief systems so when they see something that disrupts their belief system they will act with disgust, frustration or even aggression.
This is fantastic. I’m just starting to work on this and your nuances really stand out in relation to other videos I’ve watched, especially the when NOT to give the treats. I’ve enjoyed watching many of your videos and have subscribed. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with all of us!
Oh thanks!
Your approaches are SO new to me but totally intuitive. So far everything you have suggested has worked for me. I’m loving how relaxed my dogs are now around me even while I have/carry food.
We’re 3 days into “capturing” calm and my dog’s behaviour has changed drastically. Place training caused more food anxiety while this video helped us to encourage a default calm behavior that my dog actually started to enjoy without any commands (and it’s only early days now :)) thank you so much for sharing this video
Just dug this up after listening to yet another person complain about an over-aroused puppy at home. I just have to comment to say that this is one of the most precious concepts I’ve adopted as a dog owner. It’s been several years, three dogs later and I have always lived with calm polite dogs at home. All thanks to this simple (yet elusive) concept.
So thanks!
As much as I wish I had sent my dog to Brandon for training before bringing him home https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkx1_veP7CApJK_GWy_TczaMciuG64PqJeU I am so grateful for this down-to-earth, practical guide. His training techniques and tips really work. Thank you as well for dedicating your life’s work to rescue dogs, and to rescuing those of us who want the very best for our 4-legged family members.
I’m sharing this video again, for maybe the 50th time in 10 years. It is SO effective and transformative.
I made a newer version here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1olzgidMw same info tho