Teaching Calm: How to Settle

This class is great for anyone, since this is a all-around skill that’s beneficial for dogs of any age. It is also a foundational skill for more advanced training later on, should you choose to further your dog’s training!

Mat training essentially teaches your dog a few things: that their mat is a safe space; it’s a place they can relax on; it gives them a task to complete; and it also promotes independence.

For starters, their mat is somewhere they can go to when you’re cleaning the house, preparing meals, or when you have people over. It is also somewhere they can relax on when they have to go to the vet’s or groomer’s, or if you’re bringing them to a cafe or somewhere new. Or maybe you have an anxious dog — asking them to go to their mat gives them a coping strategy that’s predictable, on top of them knowing that their mat is their safe zone.

Eventually, knowing what their mat gives them allows them to relax and remain calm even when you’re out of sight.

By consistently practising ‘Mat’ with your dog in situations you want them to, they can learn how to settle without their mat over time. The practise teaches them that settling means relaxing, regardless of the environment they’re in. It can also form a habit with environmental cues, such as watching you sit at a chair and table with food outdoors.

Situational awareness
Being situationally aware gives you a major advantage of the environment you’re in, because you’ll be more well-informed and able to make decisions that will keep your dog and you safe. Aside from learning how to discern the situation, you will also learn: the different ways to guide your dog, when to guide your dog, whether to increase or decrease your judgement of the situation, and how to set your dog up for success in different situations.

Understanding motivation and reinforcement
Finding out what motivates your dog makes it easier to keep them engaged or focused on the training session or task at hand. It is paired with a reward to reinforce the desired behaviour you’re teaching your dog.

Go to mat, with duration and distraction
By adding duration and distraction during training, your dog learns to go to their mat regardless of what is happening. This helps to strengthen the efficacy of your cue.

Settling with distractions
Once your dog gets the hang of staying on their mat, we add distractions to fortify their skill. Gradually, they’ll learn that staying on their mat is much more rewarding than anything else around.

Problem solving
Learn how to figure out why your dog is doing what they do from their perspective. This way, you’ll be able to apply the appropriate positive training methods to right the issue.

Preparation for outdoor class
The last class is a field trip where you get to practice what you have learnt in the first two lessons in a controlled environment. Our trainer(s) will guide you along and help you fine tune your skills.

The Teaching Calm: How to Settle group class is designed to teach dogs to settle on their mats with varying durations and distractions.

It is not designed for dogs with existing behaviour issues such as leash reactivity, over-excitement, aggression anxiety, extreme fear or other issues that is beyond the normal dog behaviour. Should there be any existing behaviour issues, please take a look at the classes offered for Behaviour Modification!