Training calmness

[Peegee]

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I'm trying to put in some intensive training with my 7month Cockapoo, Evie. The plan is to encourage calmness and especially to use her bed during the day. I have been randomly putting treats into her bed when she's not in it and also to drop in treats whenever she is. She now regularly pops over to check it out. However it does seem to be encouraging her to look to me for teats, something she hasn't done before. She often sits in her bed staring at me and sometimes comes and sits at my feet, staring at me intently. She is reasonably calm when it's just me and my husband at home but the real problem is when we have visitors. She finds it very difficult to leave them alone and gets so excited and crazy, jumping at them and putting her front feet up on their laps, once they are in and seated. His will usually go on for most of their visit. The only way we can get her to settle is to either give her a hide type of chew or to tie her to a piece of furniture. Am I doing the right thing in loads of treats to get her to love her bed and choose it above visitors laps!!

 

[gypsysmum2]

Have you put a word to the action of her going to her bed?

Lots of people teach "settle" which means the dog has to lie down somewhere and relax. It is not a "stay" command, as that is too challenging for most pet dogs to undertake.

You could start with the bed beside you when you are relaxing and when she has "settled" just give her a treat on a fairly regular basis. You need to treat her before she moves off the bed. Ask for slightly longer periods of settle as she gets the idea before giving her a treat. She should, eventually. learn to just lie there waiting for the treat to come. Do not disappoint her. As soon as she is offering the behaviour then put a word like "settle" to it as soon as she lies down.

Gradually move the bed a short distance from you and continue to reward as before. Over time put the bed where you want her to settle. Take her to it and ask her to settle. Do not forget about her! Tie a tea towel somewhere in your view so that you remember to go and reward her on a random basis.

Then comes the training with visitors present! I would start with letting her greet them so that she has said her hellos. Then take her to her bed and ask her to settle. At first I would have a lead on her to prevent her mugging the visitors. You could just step on it as she makes a break for them.

The visitors should be under strict instructions that, once the initial greeting is over, they must not touch her again. Tell them to fold their arms if she approaches them and to stand up if she jumps up. This stage, tell them. will not go on forever but it is very important that she does not get attention when she leaves her bed, only when she is on it. If they are real dog lovers then give them the job of ignoring her advances but giving her a treat for a 10 second settle, then a 20 second settle until, eventually, she can have a treat at the end of their visit.

You might like to tell your visitors that you have dog phobic neighbour/friend/relative and it would be really helpful if they followed your instructions so that she learns to leave people alone when asked to settle.

 

[Peegee]

Thanks Gypsysmum. I have intermittent,y used the word settle when she was just calm about the house but have rather let this slip of late. I will follow your advice and use settle just for her bed. I hadn't been using a word at all - just randomly dropping in treats, but can see attaching a word might be much more useful. We only have a small house so her bed is in the corner next to my chair anyway, so not easy to forget about her. Will give this a go and see how we get on. Thanks again.