Can your dog do Nothing? If you own a puppy or a high drive or high energy dog teaching them to do nothing is a great management method for you. In this post, I talk about how to train your dog to do Nothing.
Reinforcing the do-nothing behavior comes with capturing the behavior when they begin to do it.
Trainers typically focus on training the basic cues for example: Sit, Come, Heel, etc. While these behaviors are important to teach your dog you also need to reinforce all the wonderful “Nothing Behaviors” that the dogs are already doing!
Rewarding your dog to do nothing is not an easy task to tackle, however, with positive reinforcement and calm body language it is possible.
A common training goal for many owners is for their dog to do nothing. We expect our dogs to not react to world experiences we have already been exposed. But in fact, these are new and possibly scary to them causing this reaction. Take a step back and put yourself in your dog’s shoes. This will ultimately make you a better owner.
Owners’ first instinct is when our dogs do something we don’t like is to punish them. So how do you reinforce them doing nothing?
Marker Training is a great way to mark the event of doing nothing, something. Make sense?
When your dog is laying on the ground relaxing say “Yes” and then go about your day. You can treat if you want but it’s not necessary. Continue this reinforcement history to improve the do-nothing behavior. Eventually, your dog will just do nothing with no reinforcement needed, but I always encourage it.
If you are struggling with your dog being calm, contact me today.
