Emily Larlham’s Capturing Calmness

This is the least structured (and easiest!) approach to reinforcing relaxation. You simply reward your dog as you see that he’s settling on his own, and go about your day. The more you reinforce this behavior, the more your dog will do it.

Simply walk up to your dog when you see him relaxing, and calmly place a treat on the floor right between his front paws. Or sit nearby, wait for your dog to lie down or show other signs of relaxation, and place a treat between his front paws.

Usually we talk about using high value treats during training, but this time you want something that won’t get your dog super excited. If your dog gets excited anyway, that’s okay. Simply go about your day, ignoring your dog, until he learns that getting up and following you won’t lead to anything good - but continuing to relax will.

This is easiest to do if you keep treats with you in a pouch or in your pocket, or have them stashed around your house. Make sure that your treat stashes are fully out of your dog’s reach, of course. Also, don’t keep the treats in a plastic bag that will crinkle as you reach for them. That almost always makes dogs jump up and coming running. You want to be able to quietly put a treat into your hand, nonchalantly walk by your dog, and calmly place the treat in front of him.

Here is a full video explanation:

Here is an older video from Emily with more footage of dogs just learning to settle: