Your puppy is tearing up the house, making your living room and kitchen her own obstacle course, jumping from one chair to a sofa, to an end table and so forth. You can’t even catch her to send her to the backyard to burn off some of that energy. Or, cue another scenario where your reactive dog has just seen a squirrel or another dog and is going bonkers on the leash. Don’t you wish you had a command that you could issue that would at least slow your pup down? Look no further, here is the “settle” command.
The “settle” command, once taught and your dog or puppy is immersed in the meaning of the command (3 to 4 weeks of 10 minutes per day), you will actually be able to help your pup take her energy down a notch just by getting your pup’s attention and stating the command. It sounds like Jedi Voodoo stuff, but trust me, it works.
The above command, when issued, brings with it a feeling of peace within the pup. So how is this achieved?
First, your puppy must know the sit and down commands very well. Then, once you have your pup in the down position, the real work begins. First you get a bunch of high-value treats. Second, you hold one treat (size of your thumb) in your hand such that is located a at a position 6 inches away from your pup’s elbow, right or left. Your treat should be placed between your thumb and index finger with half of the treat protruding out so your pup can nibble on the treat. Pay close attention to where your pup’s hind legs are. If your pup’s hind legs are kicked out to the left side of her body, then place the treat at the left elbow. Your pup will naturally turn her head to lick or nibble on the treat. Once this happens, start slowly moving your hand up and then toward the top of the pup’s collar where it meets the back of her neck. Assuming your pup is still following the treat, her momentum of turning her head will cause her body to fall to her right side.
That’s the hard part. Now, as soon as you have your pup on her side, mark it with a “yes!” and a treat. Moving forward, anytime your pup is laying flat on her side and has her head flat on the floor, quickly mark it with a “yes!” and a treat. But for the first couple of days, she will unlikely stay on her side very long, and pop back up to normal down position. When this happens, you have to quickly say “no!” and “settle” and maneuver her back into a settle, remembering to mark and treat her when she does. At that point you want to plan on saying “settle” every couple of seconds, making sure to mark and treat her every time she reaches the settle position. There will then be a period of time when she goes into a settle but quickly pops back up. You just have to keep saying “no!” and getting her back into “settle”. As she gets more comfortable in “settle” and starts to realize “settle” is a rewarding place to be, she will stay there longer and longer. Be sure to mark and reward often when she, and her head, is flat on the floor. After succeeding to keep her in “settle” position for a few seconds, say “OK!” and let her pop out into a normal down or sit. Do not give her any rewards for that, only for “settle”.
The goal for maintaining her in a position of “settle” should be 20 seconds. Obviously, this comes a little at a time. Plan on practicing 10 minutes a day for a couple of weeks to achieve 20 seconds of “settle”.
Assuming you have put in the time, and two weeks have passed, your pup should be able to go into a sit, down and settle, all with simple verbal commands and no hand techniques. Additionally, she should have heard the word settle so many times, that when she is being rambunctious or overly energetic, and hears the words settle, she will go to her memory banks and understand the meaning of a true “settle” and while she may not stop and lay down on her side, in her mind, she is thinking about what settle means and actually take her energy down a notch or two.
Moving forward, you should practice settle once a week for 20 minutes to keep it fresh in your pup’s mind. It’s a lot of work, yes, but the reward of being able to calm your dog at any time is worth it.
