14d • Quick Tips
Calm isn’t a personality trait — it’s a trained behaviour.
Most “madness” (bouncing, whining, pacing, creeping) is simply behaviour that’s been rewarded somewhere along the line: doors open, leads come off, dummies fly… while the dog is buzzing.
So the dog learns: excited = access.
The goal
An off-switch you can teach, then proof:
- still body
- quiet mouth
- can wait without leaking forward
- can come down quickly after excitement
Try this today (10 minutes total)
1) Bed/mat settle (2–5 mins)
- Drop treats on the bed so your dog steps on.
- Feed calmly between their paws.
- Start with 1 second of staying put → mark (“yes”) → treat.
- Build seconds slowly: 2 → 3 → 5 → 8 → 12…
2) Calm gets the thing (real life)
- Lead on / door opens / dummy thrown only after one calm behaviour (sit/stand still/bed).
- If they rev up: pause, reset, try again. No drama.
3) One calm rep between action
- Spaniels: 30–60s calm → quick fun retrieve/hunt-on → back to calm.
- Retrievers: calm sit while you handle dummies → one simple mark → back to calm.
Common slip-ups
- Asking for calm when the dog is already over threshold
- Making duration jumps too big
- Accidentally rewarding whining/bouncing by “giving in”
If you want, post below: where is calm hardest for your dog — home, car, training ground, or on the line/peg? (That changes the setup.)
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Calm isn’t a personality trait — it’s a trained behaviour.
