Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself "That person needs to learn to relax!"? Do you have certain routines in your life that relax you? Yoga? Exercise?
Many dogs also need to learn to relax. Unfortunately, they aren't self analytical enough to tell themselves "I really need to learn to relax". It is therefore our responsibility to teach them.
But how exactly do we teach a dog to relax?
The first thing is to start immediately!! It's much easier to teach a puppy to relax than an adult dog set in her ways. But if you have an older dog, you can still teach her how to relax by instilling several new structures to her life.
Relaxation is a mental state. The brain emits tiny electrochemical impulses of various frequencies. When in a relaxed state these frequencies are much lower than when the brain is in an alert/aroused state.
Some dogs have been living the majority of their waking lives in an alert/aroused mental state. Their brains are seemingly stuck emitting these higher frequencies and it becomes very difficult for them to slow their brains down. It feeds upon itself and becomes a frantic, ADD type of energy that can be very difficult to live with as owners. And not that fun for the dog.
We need to change this balance and actively give them relaxation time. Here are some of the structures we will be using to teach your dog to relax:
Physical Exercise: Certainly a very important part of teaching your dog to relax is tiring them out. The brain needs to practice being relaxed, and by tiring a dog out you can begin changing the brain pattern so that it is more often in that relaxed state of mind. The type of physical exercise they get can make a difference, though. A game of fetch, for example can wind up putting your dog in a more aroused state of mind by the end of it. This really depends on the dog and it is our job to figure out what kind of exercise works best.
My favorite kind of exercises for dogs are swimming, jogging, and running alongside a bike. There is something about the steady, consistent motion of these activities that turns them into jobs for dogs, making them a combination of physical and mental exercise.
There is something to the old adage, " A tired dog is a good dog". But your dog needs more than just physical exercise.
Mental exercise: Interactive food toys/puzzle toys/chew toys. You should have multiple varieties of these toys for your dog. These are like crossword puzzles for dogs. Watch a dog working on a food toy or a bone... they are almost Zen-like in their focus. If you can get your dog to work on a chew toy/interactive toy for 1 hour per day, that's a solid hour of putting your dog in a relaxed brain state. My favorite food toys are Kongs stuffed with kibble, big treats that are hard to remove, and a smear of unsweetened Peanut Butter or yogurt. You can then freeze the Kong to make them more challenging. I also like the Tug-a-Jug and Twist and Treat toys by Premier.
Training is also a great way to give your dog mental exercise. A few 5 minute sessions a day can go a long way in teaching your dog how to relax. The Settle behavior in particular is useful in teaching a dog to relax. By being able to put your dog in his most relaxed physical state... lying down on a comfy bed, it stands to reason that the mind will often follow.
Confinement: Your dog needs a place to relax. His own room. Cozy, with lots of soft bedding and nice toys. His job, when in this room, is to relax. I highly recommend using a crate for this. Feed him in the crate. Give his chew toys in the crate. Make the crate the magic place where good things always happen. Imagine being in a dimly lit room, soft music playing, big luxurious bed, glass of wine... how relaxing does that sound? That's how your dog's crate should feel to the dog.
While it seems nicer to give your dog free access to the home and the yard, in reality it can be damaging. The dog doesn't know his role in the house, and is constantly searching for one. "Maybe I should bark at everyone walking down the street"(high frequency brain pattern), "I'll stare out the window at squirrels" (high frequency brain pattern), "I'll tear up the sofa" (high frequency brain pattern).
Your Personal Interactions: If you greet your dog in an excited, frantic manner, you will often get an excited, frantic response. Our dogs feed off of our energy. By maintaining a calm, balanced energy around our dogs we can begin to change his brainwaves.
Reward your dog for being relaxed. If your dog is constantly panting/pacing frantically, calmly reward him with a delicious treat the instant he stops for even a split second. Just a click or a calm yes. Praise and petting will usually elicit more excitement. We need to be neutral in rewarding calmness. When your dog is frantically jumping at the door to be let out, do you open the door? Then you are rewarding franticness! And if you reward franticness, you will keep seeing franticness! Instead, reward your dog by opening the door for showing calm behaviors. With some repetition and consistency, you will see your dog offering calm behaviors more and more often when she wants something.
Jobs: I've referred to giving the dog a job a number of times in this text. When a dog has a job to do, his mind becomes focused on one thing rather than frantically scattered all over the map. Chew toys, jogging, training exercises, Settle... these are all different kinds of jobs. These jobs give the dog a purpose... a place to focus their mental energy. A place to practice emitting those lower frequency electrochemical impulses.
Teaching your dog to relax can sometimes happen quickly with consistency in applying the rules. Or it may take time. Putting in the effort now however, will mean a happier life for you, and for your dog in the long run.
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