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How to teach your dog to settle and relax

Quiet room, a mat, slow calm treats for any relaxed behaviour, then duration and gentle distractions. Exercise and enrichment come first.

At a glance

Base difficulty
3/5 (before adjusting for breed, age and size)
Source agreement
4/5 · good (how well the sources agree, not a clinical trial)
Sources cited
8
Session length
Short quiet sessions; one source notes puppies can take months to find their 'off switch'.4
Research updated

Step by step

  1. Quiet room, a mat or blanket, dog on lead or in pen; sit still; drop tiny treats on the floor for any non-staring, non-barking, non-pulling behaviour (Dogs Trust). 2,5
  2. Gradually reward more relaxed behaviours: lying down, then sighing, weight shift, head resting (Dogs Trust); capture spontaneous calm (Kikopup 'capturing calmness'). 1,3,5
  3. Deliver treats slowly and calmly between the paws; use a calm marker, not an excited click; do not toss treats. 2
  4. Increase duration before reward, then add a cue as the dog begins to settle. 1,2,5
  5. Add mild distractions and new places gradually; return to easier steps if stress appears (Overall relaxation protocol). 1,5,6
  6. Make sure exercise and enrichment come first; calm cannot be trained in an under-stimulated dog. 4

When to move to the next step

  • Karen Overall protocol: structured steps with criteria1

Difficulty by age

Difficulty is on a 1-5 scale, estimated for 50 breed and mixed-breed size profiles. Breed adjustments are generalisations capped at ±1 level, because breed explains only about 9% of behavioural variation; your individual dog matters more.7

Age groupTypical difficultyRangeSuitable for
Puppy
8-16 weeks		4/53-550 of 50 profiles
Adolescent
4-18 months		3.5/52-550 of 50 profiles
Adult
~18 months-7 years		3/52-450 of 50 profiles
Senior
7+ years (giants often from ~6)		2/51-450 of 50 profiles

What changes at this age

  • Puppy: Takes months (one source quoting Edwards & Pearce).4
  • Adolescent: Harder.
  • Adult: Same.
  • Senior: Often easier; restlessness or night waking may signal cognitive change - vet check.

Common mistakes

  • Exciting treat delivery2
  • Requiring settle while over-aroused8

Troubleshooting

  • Dog stares/paws: reward other behaviours first5

Known gaps in the evidence

  • Overall protocol read only as excerpt (first part); no breed-specific evidence

Sources (8)

Source weight (1-5) averages the source's renown and the evidence quality of the specific page; see How plans are made. How plans are made

  1. Dr Karen Overall – Protocol for Relaxation (PDF, authors site) · weight 5
  2. YouTube: Kikopup – The Calm Settle - for dogs and puppies · weight 4.5
  3. YouTube: Kikopup – Capturing Calmness- how to train calmness in dogs · weight 4.5
  4. AKC – How to care for your large-breed dog · weight 4
  5. Dogs Trust – Train your dog to settle · weight 4
  6. VCA – Teaching Calm: SOFT and Handling exercises · weight 3.5
  7. Morrill et al. 2022 Science – Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics (PMC)
  8. YouTube: Kikopup – How to train your dog to RELIABLY come when called · weight 4.5