𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗. 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧’𝗦 𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬.

One of the most useful things you can teach a Poodle is absolutely nothing.

No puzzle toy.

No training session.

No walk.

No game of fetch.

No one entertaining them.

Just…nothing.

And for a breed as intelligent, people-oriented, and observant as the Poodle, learning how to do nothing can be surprisingly difficult.

A few days ago, I asked Poodle owners what they wished they had taught their dogs as puppies.

I expected answers like recall, leash walking, grooming, and not jumping on people.

And I got all of those.

But one answer kept appearing in different forms:

• Settle.
• Nap.
• Be comfortable alone.
• Have an off switch.

One owner described her dog as having “ants in her pants.” Another said her male has absolutely no off switch and keeping him entertained is exhausting.

I think a lot of Poodle owners understand that feeling. 😂

𝗪𝗘 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗣𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧, 𝗦𝗢 𝗪𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗞𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗬

And that’s not a bad thing.

Poodles need physical exercise. They need opportunities to use their brains. They benefit from training, sniffing, exploring, retrieving, problem-solving, playing, and spending time with their people.

But there can be too much of a good thing.

Sometimes, in our determination to provide enough enrichment, we accidentally become our dog’s full-time activities director.

The puppy wakes up?

• We entertain him.

He’s wandering around looking for something to do?

• We give him something.

He pesters us?

• We play.

He seems restless?

• Another walk.

Still restless?

• Puzzle toy!

Still looking at us?

• Maybe another training session?

And our very clever Poodle begins learning something we never intended to teach:

• If I’m bored, somebody will fix it for me.

Oops.

We are bored, do something for us Dad.

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗢𝗠 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡’𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚

A dog whose physical, social, and mental needs are routinely unmet has a legitimate problem.

That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about a dog whose needs have been met and for whom nothing particularly exciting is happening right now.

That’s normal life.

You finished your walk.

You had breakfast.

We trained.

You’ve been outside.

You’ve had some attention.

And now I have work to do.

You may lie down.

😂

Your dog does not need to be entertained every waking minute.

In fact, I think learning that nothing is happening right now is an important life skill.

𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧

This is especially important with puppies.

An overtired puppy doesn’t always look tired.

Sometimes an overtired puppy looks like a tiny, curly velociraptor who has suddenly forgotten every good decision they have ever made. 😂

They’re biting.

Zooming.

Grabbing things.

Pestering everyone.

Unable to settle.

And sometimes our response is to think:

Wow. This puppy needs more exercise.

When what that puppy desperately needs may be sleep.

There is a difference between providing appropriate activity and continually increasing stimulation because a dog hasn’t learned how to come back down afterward.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗙𝗙 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗜𝗦 𝗔 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟

Some dogs come by it more naturally than others.

But we can help.

Reward calm behavior when you see it.

Let your puppy discover that lying quietly near you is worthwhile.

Use a crate, pen, mat, or designated resting area appropriately to help establish a predictable rhythm of activity and rest.

Practice being together without interacting constantly.

Practice being apart.

Let the dog watch the world without participating in everything happening in it.

And perhaps most importantly:

Don’t feel guilty because your dog is doing nothing.

You aren’t neglecting your Poodle because they’re asleep on the floor while you answer emails.

You aren’t failing at enrichment because there isn’t a puzzle feeder happening at 2:17 on a Tuesday afternoon.

Sometimes the enrichment activity is…

Take a nap, Kevin.

😂

𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗠 𝗣𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗦𝗡’𝗧 𝗔 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗣𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗟𝗘

And teaching an off switch doesn’t mean taking away the things that make Poodles wonderful.

I still want the dog who lights up when it’s time to train.

I want enthusiasm.

Curiosity.

Drive.

Athleticism.

That wonderful Poodle brain.

But I also want that same dog to understand:

We’re not doing anything right now.

And be perfectly okay with that.

Because ultimately, our dogs don’t just need to learn how to do things with us.

They also need to learn how to live with us.

And sometimes living with us means curling up, taking a nap, and waiting until something interesting happens again.

Your Poodle is bored?

Assuming their needs have been met…

That’s okay. ❤️🐩

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗧𝗢 “𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘”

The goal of “settle” isn’t simply to teach your puppy to lie down and stay there.

We want the puppy to learn how to actually relax.

VCA Animal Hospitals describes settling as both a physical and emotional state. Eventually, we’re looking for a puppy who isn’t staring at us waiting for the next treat, but softens their body, shifts onto a hip, puts their head down, looks away, and perhaps even falls asleep.

Here’s how to begin:

1. Meet your puppy’s needs first.
Give your puppy an opportunity to potty, move their body, play, and use their brain before asking them to settle. We’re teaching relaxation, not expecting a puppy with unmet needs to suppress them.

2. Start somewhere boring.
Choose a quiet time and a low-distraction room. Put a small mat or dog bed next to where you’re sitting. At first, keep it close to you.

This is not the time to practice while the kids are running through the house, dinner is cooking, and three dogs are playing in the next room. Make the first lessons easy.

3. Get your puppy onto the mat and lying down.
If your puppy already knows “down,” you can ask for it. You can also simply wait for the puppy to investigate the mat and choose to lie down.

Once your puppy is down, quietly place a small treat between the front paws. VCA specifically recommends placing the reward there rather than handing it directly to the dog because we don’t want the reward itself to pop the puppy back up and turn this into an exciting interaction.

4. At first, reward frequently.
Your puppy is learning the game, so make success easy. Quietly drop another treat between the paws while the puppy remains down.

Keep your own behavior boring, too.

No excited praise. No enthusiastic eye contact. No party because your puppy has remained still for eight seconds. 😂

We’re trying to bring arousal down, not wind the puppy back up.

5. Now start watching for relaxation.
This is where “settle” becomes different from “down.”

Look for your puppy to:

• shift onto one hip
• relax their muscles
• stop staring at you
• look away
• lower their head
• put their chin on the floor
• stretch onto their side

Quietly reward those moments. VCA recommends gradually reinforcing the more relaxed postures, rather than merely continuing to reward the dog for remaining in a down position.

6. Add the word “settle.”
Don’t repeatedly tell an excited puppy, “Settle…settle…SETTLE!”

Wait until you see the puppy beginning to soften and relax, then quietly say “settle.”

Now you’re giving a name to the behavior and emotional state the puppy is already beginning to experience.

7. Slowly increase the time between treats.
Initially, treats may come only seconds apart. Once your puppy understands, gradually make the intervals longer.

The ultimate goal isn’t a puppy lying perfectly still while staring at your hand waiting for payment.

The goal is a puppy who realizes:

• Oh. Nothing is happening.
• I guess I’ll take a nap.

That’s what we’re after.

8. Start doing normal human things.
Read a book. Watch television. Answer emails. Fold laundry.

Your puppy begins learning something extremely valuable:  You can be together without constantly interacting.

VCA recommends beginning with short periods, even just 5 to 10 minutes, and gradually increasing the interval between rewards and eventually the distance between you and your puppy’s resting place.

9. Keep it easy enough that your puppy can succeed.
Once your puppy understands the exercise in a quiet room, you can gradually practice with normal household activity happening around you.

If your puppy can’t settle, you’ve probably made something harder too quickly. Shorten the session, reduce the distraction, move the mat closer, or reward more frequently.

And if your puppy is showing genuine distress rather than simply saying, “But I would rather be doing something!”, don’t turn this into a battle of wills. VCA advises backing up and using a more gradual approach when a dog is barking, whining, scratching to escape, or otherwise distressed during independent-rest training.

𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥: 𝗪𝗘’𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟

Your puppy isn’t born knowing that sometimes humans sit at a computer for two hours and absolutely nothing interesting happens.

We have to teach that.

Start small. Make it easy. Reward the relaxation you want. Gradually ask for a little more.

And don’t wait until you have an adolescent Poodle bouncing off the walls before deciding you desperately need an off switch.

Teach the off switch while they’re little. ❤️🐩

Training guidance adapted from VCA Animal Hospitals’ veterinary behavior resources, including “Dog Behavior and Training: Teaching Settle and Calm” and “Using Enrichment, Predictability and Scheduling to Train Your Dog.”

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛 𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗

Maybe you’re reading the puppy instructions and thinking:

Well, that’s great. Mine isn’t a puppy anymore.

You can still teach this.

In fact, one of the most useful exercises my co-owner, friend and trainer Rebekah taught me was how to take the concept of “settle” out of my house and into the real world.

The goal wasn’t to make the dog ignore the world.

The dog could notice people. Notice children. Notice another dog walking past. Notice shopping carts, bicycles, noises and activity.

What I wanted was a dog who could notice those things without believing every single one required a response.

Here’s how she taught me to do it.

1. Pick a busy location, but start FAR away from the activity.

• A farmers market, children’s park, shopping center, or another location with predictable activity can work.
• But don’t walk your dog directly into the middle of it.
• I parked far enough away that my dog could see and hear what was happening without becoming overwhelmed by it.

VCA recommends controlling the intensity of distractions during this type of training, and distance is one of the easiest ways to do that. Start farther from the stimulus and gradually decrease the distance as the dog becomes comfortable.

2. My dog started in the crate.

• I opened the tailgate, sat on it, and left the dog safely in the crate.

That’s it.

• We watched the world.
• When my dog was calm and settled, I marked the behavior and rewarded it.
• Someone walked across the parking lot?
• My dog could notice.
• A child ran past in the distance?

Fine.

• A shopping cart rattled by?

Also fine.

I wasn’t asking the dog to pretend those things didn’t exist.

I was reinforcing:  “You saw that, and you remained calm. THAT is what I want.”

3. Don’t be in a hurry to get closer.

This wasn’t one afternoon of training.

We went back.

And then we went back again.

I didn’t move to the next step because a certain number of minutes had passed or because it was our third visit.

I progressed because the dog told me they were ready.

VCA’s guidance follows the same principle. When distractions are introduced, the dog should still be able to relax. If the dog becomes highly aroused or distressed, the intensity has increased too quickly.

4. Next, the dog came out of the crate but stayed with me on the tailgate.

Now we had removed one layer of separation from the environment.

• Same location.
• Same exercise.
• More exposure.

The dog sat beside me while the world happened at a distance.

Calm?

• Mark. Reward.

Settled?

• Mark. Reward.

Someone appeared and the dog looked, then disengaged?

• That’s something I want to reinforce.

Over subsequent visits, I could park where people passed somewhat closer. Maybe instead of being across the parking lot, someone might walk within ten feet of the back of the vehicle. But only when the dog was ready for that.

5. Then we moved behind the vehicle.

• Eventually, I brought a lawn chair.
• The dog came completely out of the vehicle, and we sat behind it.
• Again, we weren’t walking through the crowd.
• We were simply existing near it.

That is an incredibly useful skill for a dog. At this point, the vehicle was still nearby, the dog had me there, and I could control our distance from most of the activity.

• We sat.
• We watched.
• And I continued marking and rewarding calm behavior.

6. Gradually move closer to real life.

• Over multiple sessions, we could decrease the distance.
• People could pass closer.
• Children could play nearby.
• Another dog might walk past.
• There might be carts, bicycles, conversations, doors opening, people getting in and out of vehicles, and all the other things that make up normal life.

The progression was always based on what that particular dog could handle while remaining capable of settling.

VCA describes essentially this principle in desensitization work: begin with a low-intensity version of the stimulus and increase the intensity gradually while the dog remains comfortable. Continuing when a dog is already showing significant fear or arousal can make the problem worse rather than better.

𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗞

This is probably the most important part.

Don’t decide:

• We’re staying here for 30 minutes.
• Your dog may be finished after ten.
• Or five.

And that’s okay.

Watch for the same relaxation signals we talked about earlier: a softer body, looking away from the distraction, shifting into a comfortable position, taking treats normally, putting the head down, or eventually behaving as though everything happening around them has become wonderfully uninteresting. VCA recommends watching body language closely and increasing difficulty only while the dog remains physically and emotionally relaxed.

If your dog can no longer settle, becomes increasingly vigilant, stops taking treats normally, barks, lunges, tries to escape, or becomes progressively more aroused, don’t keep moving closer hoping they’ll “get used to it.”

You’ve probably asked for too much.

Create more distance. Make the environment easier. Or call it a successful day and try again another time.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗦𝗡’𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚

This was one of the most valuable lessons for me. I don’t need my Poodle to believe that other people, dogs, children, bicycles and shopping carts don’t exist.

I want my dog to notice them and learn: “That’s not my business.” 😂

Eventually, the dog can be outside the vehicle, near normal activity, without needing to investigate, greet, bark at, follow, or become excited about every person, animal, or interesting thing that passes.

That’s an off switch in the real world.

And if your adult Poodle never learned it as a puppy?

You haven’t missed your chance.

Start farther away.

Reward the calm you want.

Let the dog determine when you’re ready to make it harder.

And build it one successful outing at a time.

This progression reflects the training approach I learned from Rebekah and used with my own dogs. The underlying principles of reinforcing relaxed behavior, gradually introducing distractions, controlling distance and avoiding exposure that pushes a dog into significant fear or arousal are consistent with VCA Animal Hospitals’ veterinary behavior guidance on teaching calm and gradual desensitization.