command words...

[Lucy & Ellie]

Lucy is our first puppy so I am inexperienced!  She is 3 months today and knows sit, come, down.

I want to be working with her on a few more things... 

In the evenings, she used to lay on the couch between me and my husband.  Now she seems just too active!  So because we are ready to sit down for the night and not really in the mood to deal with her activeness (she has always just had a big play session), we end up putting her into her pen and she totally lays down and rests there.  So I know she's ready to settle down.  So it made me wonder if we should teach her to settle.  And how to do it??  And how would laying on the couch "settling" be any different than a down/stay?  So which command do we use?  

I do realize that we can use whatever word we want for whatever command we want, but I want consistency.  In other things too, like off vs down... leave it vs drop it.  I know most of that is just me getting it straight in my own head :)

[Adina P]

For teaching "place" which translates to "go to your place [a mat, a dog bed, a rug] and stay there until excused" my training had me teach the term "place" by teaching "down-place" and then gradually dropping the "down" and only saying "place."  I never completed "place" training but it involved gradually extending the time in 15 then 30 min increments.  It was time consuming because you had to be near and supervising so you could return the dog to his place immediately to correct him if he got off of the 'place.'  Perhaps that might help...combining the words 'down' and 'settle'? 

Also I should add that part of the training involved using some kind of mat/dog bed/rug that could be moved around the house or outside if need be.  So you could have a small pillow or towel or something that you could use as the 'settle' location and then train it in different areas by moving that towel/pillow as needed.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

With Tara we use both "down/stay" and "settle" commands. At our house "settle" means to calm down. She can still move about but I want her to do so in a relaxed and not overly excited way.  "Down/stay" means she is to lie down and not get back up until she is released. We had the same issue with Tara as a pup getting overly excited and not being able to calm down after playtime in the evening. She too ended up in her pen and this is when I started to train her to "settle".  She wasn't allowed out of the pen until she calmed down and I gradually associated it with the word "settle'.  Some people hold the pup in their arms (kind of restrain them) and use a word such as "settle". The pup is then not released until they relax. This didn't work well with Tara as she seemed to be able to outlast us! Both "down/stay and "settle" could be used at the same time if you want her to stay in one place and be calm.

Yes, consistency is important.  Tara was trained that "off" means to get off of something such as the couch.  "Down" on the other hand only means lie down.  That being said, I have to admit that "down" often gets misused for an "off" at our house even after 5 years. Apparently the people here are more difficult to train than the doodle. :(

[BG and Gavin]

The only command similar that we have is the "relax" command.  It is an extension of the down/stay which involves "flipping" onto one hip extending to lying on his side.  I mostly use it for paw cleaning and nail trimming but it could be used to help a dog settle down I think.

[Kyoko]

I use "Off" for getting off of something like a couch, and "Down" for lying down. "Drop it" for plopping thing out of his/her mouth, and "Leave it" for walking away from something and not eating/picking it up.

To me, settling on the couch is much relaxed, they can shift, change body position, etc... if they choose to walk away, they can. While down stay is down stay and they are not to break from it, nor shift their body around until released.

May be when you put her in the pen and when she settle, say " settle" / "relax" ( catch her doing the action and place the word to that action.) and generalize that to outside of the pen once she is reliable in "settling down " each time in the pen.  I never taught mine this command, and seems difficult. because it is hard to pin point exactly what behavior dog is to do. Could it be "settle" when standing calmly? Or does it have to be laying down?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think what you are talking about is training a "state of mind" versus a position.  We use the word "calm" for Murphy, and it means that I'm disagreeing with his state of mind.  He can be in a down/stay but still have his mind on something else...like a sound or the toy he sees his "brother" playing with.  When I say calm it means he needs to just relax.  It has literally taken us a couple years to teach this to him, because he's an anxious dog.  I found the most difficult part is that you must be calm yourself to teach it, and in some situations that isn't easy.  I use it often when we see other dogs, because that's a trigger for Murph to react.  I put him in a "sit/stay" and them I calm myself, lightly pet him, and softly say the word "calm".  They I watch his body language...at the first sign of tension I verbally correct (softly) and go through it again.  If I don't get a calm state of mind by the second time we turn and walk away....or if it's in the house he goes into a "time out" to calm himself.