How To Instill Calmness In Your Dog

Calmness means the appropriate response in any given situation. It is a quality we must completely understand in order to properly train our dogs.

A dog gains calmness by focusing on an objective and then attaining it through action. He can't think his way to calmness nor can he learn it through the example of another. A dog learns to be calm by doing. If a dog's action leads him to fulfillment, patience becomes a learned skill. And if a dog gets enough practice in a variety of endeavors, he can develop an overall character trait of calmness.

The biggest mistake is made by attempting to calm a dog by trying to train him to be still. Whether the owner yells, pleads, nags, grabs the dog in some way, or stares, he is only going to make the dog nervous.

The most effective way to train a dog to be patient and focused is through the most active of his instincts: the prey instinct. Calmness and patience in the face of denial are built into the prey instinct. Through the prey instinct the dog can learn that a condition of denial is not only temporary but is positive, as it is a predictor of eventual success.