Do you ever feel like your dog cannot sit still and achieve an inner calm, no matter how hard you try? You’re not alone – teaching our furry friends to concentrate and stay relaxed can be a difficult journey. But don’t lose hope! There is a way to get your pup to settle down and reach an inner serenity. At its core, teaching your dog to achieve an inner calm is about understanding how their minds work, responding to their needs, and effectively communicating with them. It requires patience, persistence and time. With the right guidance you can help your pup learn to find an inner calm. Read on to learn some strategies and tips to help you teach your dog to be calm, from using positive reinforcement to establishing a routine. We will also look at the other aspects of their behavior that you may need to consider when training them to have an inner peace.
Identifying Signs of Stress in Dogs
Dogs can experience stress just as humans do, but it’s not always easy to identify the signs. Dogs that exhibit signs of stress like pacing or panting, or they can be destructive, like chewing or barking. Some dogs may also hide or withdraw from people and activities. By teaching your dog to be calm and recognize triggers of stress, you can help them manage stress. It’s important to pay attention to your dog’s body language, such as their posture or facial expressions. Other signs to look out for include shaking or trembling, yawning, licking their lips, and avoiding eye contact. You can read more in my blog about calming signals. If your dog is exhibiting any of these signs, it could be a sign that they are feeling stressed.
Practicing Basic Training Commands
Practicing basic training commands is an important part of teaching your dog to be calm. Start by teaching your dog simple commands such as sit, stay, come and down. Every time your dog successfully responds to one of the commands, reward them with a treat and lots of praise. Working on training helps build your dogs confidence, keep their mind thinking so they will be more focused and help build a foundation for other training behaviors.
Teach your dog to settle or go to mat as an alternate behavior. Teaching your dog to settle, helps them to learn how to calm down when asked. The settle behavior has lots of different names and different approaches. However, the end goal is the same, having your dog achieve an inner calm. This behavior is great to have when people come to visit, if your are eating dinner, taking your dog out in public and more.
Using Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is an effective and humane way to train your dog. It is based on rewarding desirable behaviors and ignoring undesirable ones. Rewards can be verbal praise, treats, toys, or anything else your dog finds motivating. Make sure to give rewards at the exact moment your pup does the desired behavior; this will help them remember faster. Consistency, timing and patience are key in training.
Teaching Your Dog Inner Calm Guidance
Reading your dog’s body language and understanding the when and what to use during training can be overwhelming. If you would like more information on how I can teach you how to “Speak dog”, feel free to contact me today. Sometimes having a dog translator can make the dog training journey a little easier.
Wags,
Allison
