Techniques to Calm Your Dog
Your dog can read and copy your emotions
 Does your dog whine, claw at the door and bark when you pick up the leash?
Does he become rigid and raise his hackles when he sees another dog coming down
the street? Does he fly like a rocket and pound on the door whenever
someone rings the doorbell? Does he cringe and shake when there are loud
noises?
When your dog is excited, tense or nervous he is less likely and perhaps less
able to listen to you. He can be jumping up and down, whining or barking
incessantly, pulling hard on the leash or dancing and twirling in the air.
In his excited state, he may take off with leash in tow, argue with other dogs,
hurt himself or hurt you.
It is useful to have some general purpose techniques to calm your dog in a
variety of different situations. They may not always make your dog
perfectly calm and quiet but, at the least, they can avoid making the situation
worse.
Calm yourself
Your dog can and does read the emotions on your face. Try making an odd
face in front of your dog and watch his reaction.
If you are as tense and excited as your dog is, this will serve to heighten his
tension. Your dog takes cues from you including any added tension on the
leash, the stiffening of your body, a louder voice, a higher pitched voice, a
gruffer voice, etc. If you think the situation is worth becoming tense
over, your dog will agree with you.
Be aware of the tension in your eyes, your shoulders, your arms and hands.
Deliberately diffuse the tension by focusing on these areas and relaxing them.
Round your shoulders, breath deeply, close your eyes if necessary and relax your
fingers without letting go of the leash if you have one.
Focus on something else
Your dog can focus intently on approximately one thing at a time. If
he is overly concerned about a loud noise or another dog for example, try
turning his attention to something else.
Simply turning him, physically, away from the source of excitement can do the
trick. If he is bounding towards the door, calling him back and making him
sit can help calm him. Throw a favorite toy in the opposite direction.
A small, favorite and rare treat can be a big distraction provided that he is
calm enough to eat without choking. Just smelling a pungent treat such as
liver can work.
Engage in some play acting
Adopt some clearly understood signals that show your dog
that there is nothing to be excited about. These are signals that dogs use
themselves to show that they are not particularly excited, tense or nervous at
the moment.
Yawn deeply and slowly. Close your eyes, take in lots of air, take your
time and make loud yawning noises. Show your dog that there's nothing to
be excited about.
Stretch your arms as if you are going to touch your toes. Stretching
upwards can be interpreted as making yourself larger and more aggressive so
curling yourself downward should have the opposite effect.
Look the other way and find something else to focus on. Staring
directly at your dog can increase his excitement. Staring is considered an
aggressive and sometimes threatening gesture. Looking away is considered
calming and low key.
Having a number of different techniques can come in handy when there is
really something to get nervous or tense about. It helps to have tried
them all and become very familiar with the ones that work for you.
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