While some dogs seem to come out of the box with the ability to settle down and take a nap when they’re tired, many dogs need a little help to learn how to “turn off” and relax. One of the tried-and-true training protocols that we use to help dogs like this is Dr. Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol.
Dr. Overall’s Relaxation Protocol utilizes a known duration behavior (a down stay or sit stay), rewards at regular intervals, and slowly increasing the level of distance, duration, & distraction to condition calm feelings and behaviors. The goal is for your dog to be mildly bored of the whole ordeal, but still engaged enough to hang around and get free food.
While the original Relaxation Protocol still has a ton a value, it was originally established in 1997 – and we have learned a lot more about effective training since then! Here are some important modifications to the original protocol that increase the effectiveness of the training:
- Treats should be valuable enough for the dog to maintain interest in the work, but not so valuable that they make your dog frantic. If you treat is too low value, your dog will not be engaged enough to work. If your treat is too high value, your dog may become frustrated by the slow pace of the rewarding and begin trying to offer other behaviors to speed up the game. Read more about treat choice here!
- You should progress at a reasonably steady rate, with some minor fluctuations for your dog’s day to day ability to learn and train. If you get stuck on a task, take a video of it and reach out to your trainer. It’s much easier to analyze a training picture when you’re looking from the outside!
- Do not be concerned about “rewarding” fear, nervousness, tension, etc. If your dog is not happily engaged, take that to mean you need to adjust your training picture – but don’t hesitate to use food to build confidence and positive feelings. (We have learned more about how food impacts behavior and emotion changes since this training program was originally published!)
- You can use your mat game to help your dog associate a context cue with settling.
