Lots of folks will see the dogs in some of our posts and say they look, bored, unmotivated, shut down…the short answer is they are not shut down at all, they are CALM.
First lets talk about the dogs we work with and who we are. We are family pet dog trainers and behavior modification rehabbers for the Seattle area. So many of the dogs we see have no drive, they struggle with fear, anxiety over arousal and aggression. Most of the dogs that come to us not only are out of control and have no ability to relax unless they are sleeping. Many of the dogs are super reactive to any environmental. In the house, dogs are reactive to everything during the day, knocking and doorbells, traffic going by the house, people walking by in the street, varmints outside, barking at the TV, jumping on furniture, jumping on people, biting people in the house, running and hiding from people in the house, getting into dog fights in the house, counter surfing, getting into the trash, constantly barking at everything, attacking vacuums, brooms, stealing things and running from owners., jumping up on people entering the house and in the house.
So pretty much doing things that have owners turning dogs into an animal shelters, some getting killed.
The Place command as well as the Down command with built in calmness is one of the cornerstones of our training philosophy. It all leads to Calm on Command, having a dogs default behavior be calmness.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to have a tired dog to do this, of course we are HUGE advocates of diet and exercise but this is separate, you don’t need to have a tired dog to have a calm dog.
If you have a working dog, sport dog, agility dog, flyball dog or any other high drive activity. You can have both, not too many folks come to us for their dog to be more excited, to have more energy, to increase the drive.
So teaching a dog to lay down and watch the world go by around them is huge, it helps the dog both mentally and physically. We see dogs have less stress and get off of many of the drugs that they are being prescribed by vets.
So when you see this, keep in mind the dog is not shut down, the dogs spirit has not been broken, the dog is not afraid. The dog is calm.
K9 Command, LLC
Lynnwood, WA 98036
206.452.6026