So I've been taking Dizzy to some dog shows to get used to the environment and have heard other people talk about their dog settling. So I asked my good buddy google, and came across this link discussing how to teach this to your dog. I'm wondering if anyone has attempted this, if it works and any tips you might have.

I taught Anna a form of this so I could cut her nails. I lay her in my lap belly up and she will settle immediately now, but when we started she threw a fit. Her head is leaned to one side and and my hand on her chest. When she would squirm I would sit up and I guess hold her a little tighter until she calmed down. I actually have a picture of how I make her settle, in a thread about nail cutting.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t7468-trimming-nails?highlight=cut+nails

That's interesting, thanks for linking. How do you think I would adapt that to a public area with other dogs around. He gets so excited!

Honestly if I had that answer I would have no problems. Haha. Anna is still absolutely nuts in social situations. And all type of training goes out the door, she could care less what I say or do. She definitely has the stubborn trait. My best friend moved in with us and Anna attacks her every morning. Let's just say she wasn't a dog person until Anna, since she really doesn't have a choice. Hahah

Ha ha! Yeah about the only thing I can use for Dizzy is cheese, and even that doesn't always win out if he's really stimulated by what's going on around him.

Haha. If I did that with Anna she would probably grab the cheese and then act crazy again. I took her to a lot of places hoping that maybe she would realize people aren't really all that interesting, it hasn't worked so far. It isn't dogs she is excited to see its the people. I took her to the dog park once and she could care less about the other dogs. She is a weird one. Haha. My problem is going to be when my boyfriend leaves for Budapest next semester and I have to find another roommate to help with rent. Unless you really like dogs she can be a bit much.

And we tried the whole no jump approach, and everything they suggest you do and she still didn't care. Spray her in the face with water didn't stop her. Ignore her, she just jumps on your back. Make her sit, she jumps when they get close and usually hits me in the mouth with her big head.


Hopefully you have better luck then us. Haha

Lol! Dizzy tries to sniff everybody's hands as they walk by, he's looking to see if they might have treats for him... I'm lucky in that he's incredibly food motivated.

I use "relax." It's easier to teach them it before you're out in public. There's a book, "Click to calm" and I know a lot of people who have had success with it.

The Huskies are very good at it just in general but my Aussie is a little screwy so we worked on it for a while. Anytime he would lie down he would get a treat thrown at him, closing his eyes (even to blink) we would mark/treat. Once he realized what we were doing, I would pair the word with it. "Relax" and toss treat. We then started trying it in public and when he would lie down/sit whatever he got treats thrown. Didn't take long for him to make the connection, eventually we were able to use the command when we were out and about and he does take it down a few notches.


A lot of people also use mats as a place to be calm. Using the same sort of method but theat itself is a cue to relax.

I haven't used this for my huskies, but I used it on my mom's CRAZY labradoodle. I trained him as a puppy to do this in the SAME steps as the link in the first post. It worked wonders. To this day if he's bouncing around when someone comes inside the house, I just say "settle" and he comes right next to me and keeps his body still - no more pogo stick doodle. He's 7 years old now.

Settle is important. My dog is in all sorts of busy and high stress environments and she settles well now, but we had to work at it A LOT. I started at home. When she'd get squirrely I'd tell her settle and of course she didn't respond. So I started not just ignoring her behavior but physically leaving the room. Go into a bathroom and shut the door or around a corner where she couldn't see me. Over and over and over again but she eventually caught on that I only return when she's calm. I'm rewarding the behavior not by treats or praise, but by interaction. That is what they crave the most, afterall.

Once I knew she understood what I wanted by "Settle" I took it public. Obviously you can't leave the room in a Petsmart or public place so if I asked her to settle and she didn't - we'd leave. No words, no corrections, just complete lack of interaction and removal from the environment.