Routine
If you need your pup to be calm at a certain time of day try changing the pup’s routine. It might be that at certain times of day, for example the end of the day, your pup’s behaviour becomes less than perfect because he’s over tired, or over stimulated. Or it may be that you’re working on leaving your pup for short periods of time.
Let’s say that your pup typically gets overly tired at 19:00, when you’d prefer that he chilled out…
- 18:00 Physical exercise, remember not too much for a pup. Playing and engaging with your pup will increase the likelihood that he’ll come back to you when off lead. This will leave him physically tired, but will increase the stress chemicals making it difficult for him to calm down.
- 18:20 Many 2-5 minute training sessions, interspersed with lots of sniffing. This will release the happy chemicals to counteract the stress chemicals and will be mentally tiring.
- 18:40 Scentwork games. Sniffing releases more happy chemicals. Scentwork (finding something using the nose and brain) is particularly good for tiring a dog out. 15 minutes of scentwork is worth an hours walk to an adult dog.
- 19:00 The pup begs you for his Kong. Licking and chewing is calming for a dog. Your pup will fall asleep as he’s chewing.
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