I’ve just had three days at The BFA Flyball Championships. Some very exciting racing and a real adrenaline rush for both dogs and handlers. As I was only racing one dog each day, I had plenty of time to just hang about near my van and relax, so I took the opportunity to work with Mint on getting her to just relax, settle down and chill at the side of me in this busy environment. This got me thinking about teaching our dogs to chillax and just how important it is.
As you can see, Mint relaxed so much, that she actually fell asleep.
Not only does it do us good to be able to just settle and relax in an environment, it does our dogs good as well. Teaching them to settle and relax, also means that we can relax. Just imagine how relaxing it would be to take your dog to a dog friendly pub, and have then just settle down beside you whilst you have a meal and a drink (or two!).
Having a dog that doesn’t switch off can be very tiring and frustrating for the owner, but just imagine what it must be like for the dog to be constantly on the go and to be unable to relax? That’s not good for the dog’s health and welfare and often leads to the owners getting frustrated with a dog that won’t calm down and may mean that the dog gets left at home whilst the owners go for days and evenings out.
So, how do we teach our dogs to relax and settle? A lot does depend on your dog’s personality; you may need to start off training a settle when your dog is already a bit tired or you may be able to train this when the dog is a bit fresher. You can start this off at home or when you are out on a walk. You will need something relaxing for you to do (read a book, check your Facebook, sit and watch the World go by, watch a TV documentary, practice your meditation, anything that will keep you calm and relaxed). If you are off out and about, you will probably need to take something to sit on, unless you know there is a seat in that location.
This is how I did it with Mint at the weekend. sat myself down in my chair with Mint on the lead and a good book and a coffee. Mint was on lead and was allowed to explore the environment. I sat back, took a few deep breathes and tuned myself out from the noise of the flyball going on in the next field. I read my book (The Fitz and The Fool series by Robin Hobb..well worth a read) and just kept my eye on Mint. After a while, she stopped pestering me and just lay down. That was the time that I very quietly, calmly and slowly praised her ‘Goooddddd giirrrllll’, just enough for her to hear me but not enough to excite her into getting back up again. We continued in this manner for a good 40 minutes or more. You can see from the picture above, that she eventually chilled enough to just go to sleep. This is a huge deal for her as she is such an environmentally aware dog and such a stress head at times, which is why I am so keen to teach her to relax and switch off in novel environments.
Here is another picture of Mint settling and relaxing in a training class environment. Another big deal for her as there were other dogs and people present. 
Although she hasn’t gone to sleep in this image, you can see from her eyes that she is relaxing and thinking about going to sleep and you can see that her body is relaxed. Her ears tell you that she is still aware of the other dogs and people, but not enough to worry her.
I must admit, it was lovely to just sit and chill with her and I found that I was de-stressing as well (living with a dog like Mint can be very stressful). The biggest benefit for me, was that when Mint was popped back into her crate in the van, she actually laid down quietly (even though the van doors were still wide open and we had vehicles, people and dogs as our close neighbours). This is huge as she’s usually barking at everything around her and sometimes spinning in her crate.
Maybe not the best quality photo, but a milestone for this girlie.
Other ways you can use to encourage your dog to settle at your feet (or near you) is to tether a stuffed Kong to your chair. This prevents the dog from just picking the Kong up and moving off with it and keeps them occupied close to you. I often suggest this for people to use in training classes as it keeps their dog occupied whilst others are being worked. See my Facebook page Get Stuffed for some ideas of frozen Kong recipes.
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