Protect your pet with insurance. Cover accidents, illnesses, and more. Compare Plans with Petplace

Why teach your dog to relax

  • Improves overall well-being

    Teaching your dog to relax helps reduce stress and anxiety, and promotes a calm state of mind

  • Increases resilience

    Teaching your dog to relax improves their ability to adapt, recover from challenging situations, and handle change

  • Reduces unwanted behaviors

    A relaxed dog is less likely to engage in destructive and disruptive behaviors

"Relax"

Getting started

Engaging in structured relaxation exercises can help strengthen your dog's relaxation skills and make it easier for them to recover from heightened states of excitement or anxiety.

Follow these steps when teaching your dog to relax

• Set-up a mat in your home and ask your dog for a “Down”

• The moment your dog lies down on the mat, say “Yes” and reward them with a treat

• Continue providing your dog treats for up to one minute

• With time and practice, your dog will start offering more relaxed behaviors such as putting their head down on the mat

Pro tip

As your dog gets more relaxed on the mat you can increase the time between each treat and try giving them a work-to-eat toy in lieu of individual treats


Handouts

• School for the Dogs Relaxation Protocol

Products we love

• Lamb lung. Dogs love these and they're perfect because they're very small.

• Treat pouch. A pouch is a great place to hold your treats during a training session

• Classic KONG toy

• Toppl work-to-eat toy