Teaching a dog to settle and rest

[LordoftheDanceSaidHe]

I have a lovely JR cross who is 15 months and really great. Great with other dogs, children, excellent recall, lead walking and knows basic cues/commands.

However she gets v hyper with visitors to the house and if we're out and say want a drink in a cafe etc she really struggles to lie down and just be/ relax, despite my best efforts.

She's fine being left at home without us and is brilliant at settling herself somewhere of her choosing (under my desk or in a different room) while we work for huge chunks of the day. She has good walks and fuss outside these times.

I want her to be able to rest and recharge when there is external stimuli especially at home but also if out. Our home is open plan so I've never shut in a different room but wondering if this is an issue.

I've trained a 'settle' but she really really struggles as she jumps into her bed in a hyper alert waiting for the treat way and it revs rather than relaxes her. She's crate trained at night and v happily accepts this and will go there during the day.

She whines/screams if put in a different room (but fine if we're out). I don't think I could leave her in the car alone. The whining is a problem too and only really relates to this issue.

Really I want her to be able to chill and recharge as her behaviour deteriorates when tired and also some visitors don't like dogs and I want he either chilling near them or shut away..

Any suggestions really welcome. We've done three rounds of classes where she's done great. Loves being busy and trained. Hates standing still waiting for the next task!!

Have you tried the exercise called 'sit on the dog'? Dog on lead, you sit down on a chair, lead under one of the chair legs so the dog is obliged to lie down (but must be able to find a comfortable position). You pretty much ignore the dog, who learns that sometimes it just has to chill even in a stimulating environment. You can find detailed info online.

As for crying when left in a room, but fine when you're out - one of mine is sometimes like this so I feel your pain. You can start by getting the dog to sit-stay in a room, with the door open, going out of sight, but quickly rewarding any period of quiet stillness. Gradually build up the time, gradually close the door, and gradually change the command as you shut the door from 'stay' to whatever release command you use, or just 'wait' (which my dogs know as a very brief stay - it lets me shut doors safely) so the dog knows she can mooch about the room. In theory this should work. You can also leave something there to entertain her (like a filled Kong) while your dog-disliking guest has a cup of tea.

We had a JRTx - lovely dog, but single-minded!

I reward stillness.

So if your dog is on their bed then do not reward the sitting up, excitied looking for a treat moment. Wait until the are lying down and still, Quietly and gently reward this. No words, no excitement and the treat close to the dog so they do not have to move.

When the dog only reacts to eat the treat and not jump up etc you can add in the word settle.

It is easier to do this when they are already chilled rather than setting it up to make the chilled to start with.

Another way to help is to teach a down onto one hip. Some dogs when trained to lie down tend to go into a sphnyx position eg down but pretty ready to leap up again if needed. If you can slightly rotate the treat the dog will rest on one hip in a more relaxed position. That position alone can help to make a dog feel relaxed and settle for longer. Just increase the time between treating in that position and you will have a chilled dog in no time

We teach calm behaviour on their beds by capturing it when they choose to lie quietly, dropping a treat on as we go about our business. Once they’re consistently able to lie quietly, not looking for a treat or watching what we’re doing intently in the hope of getting one, we start adding in the cue. Using lower grade treats helps to build the calmness, as they’re less keen than they would be for high-grade treats. So maybe some of their usual kibble.

As Polly said, we also only add in the settle cue once they automatically take the dropped hip position. With sighthounds like ours, they will tend towards the Spinx position, which makes it very easy to just spring back up again. I find once they’ve dropped a hip they start to relax, I assume because it relaxes the spine and pelvic muscles.

If you’ve already tried training to ‘settle’ but it’s not been successful, I would pick a new cue word and go right back to the start, capturing the behaviour you want, rather than just being in her bed and building up to adding in the new cue when she’s reliably lying calmly with no arousal.

You could join the FB group Dog Training Advice and Support as they have some guides specifically related to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) which it sounds like might be the issue, as she will settle when you go out, but not if you are in the house but not accessible to her.

Thank you. Some extremely useful advice in here which I'll read more on. At pup training we sort of rained treats on the beds for just being on it and that just revved her up.
We need to work on the timing and rewarding the calm still behaviour.