The “Take Five” cue can be used whenever and wherever you want your dog to relax and watch the world go by—sidewalk cafes, Zoom meetings, vet visits, social visits with friends, outdoor music concerts, food carts, backyard BBQs, etc. Use this cue whenever you want your dog to take a deep breath and chill out independently. “Kick your feet up, your dog , we’re going to hang out here for a few.”

Tools Needed

• Small/medium value training treats
• Leash
• Harness
• Chair
• Optional: high-value, long-lasting chew

Focus

Before we get to the specifics, here are four basic principles to apply to any skill you’d like to teach your puppy:

Set your puppy up for success.
Meet your basic needs and your puppy’s basic needs before you begin training. Make sure both you and your puppy are feeling safe, comfortable, and secure in your surroundings. Work in a place where both of you can focus and at a time of day that works for the two of you. Make sure you have all of the tools you need.

Remember that your dog is a very good dog.
Dogs are an entirely different species from humans, with a different set of social rules, environmental affordances, developmental milestones, and genetic mandates. It is imperative to remember that most human rules are not inherently reinforcing for our canine companions.

Teach your puppy to love the behavior you want to see.
The fastest way to teach a puppy what is acceptable in our human world is to teach them to genuinely love our rules. Help your puppy love goal behaviors by rewarding those behaviors with things your puppy already loves.

Start at the beginning.Start easy, and gradually work through challenging but achievable goals. When training is easy and fun, your puppy will love to learn and to build on their skills.

When to Train

If either you or your dog is feeling stressed, do not work on this behavior. Only practice settling when you are sure both your needs and your dog ’s needs have been met, and ideally when your dog is already relaxed and sleepy. Skills must be learned before they can be used.

Where to Train

As with all skills, start in a very easy and familiar place, like your living room. Gradually add more challenging locations as your dog is successful, always starting the process from the beginning when you change locations. If your dog gets confused or distracted, chances are you have made the location too difficult for her. Go back to a successful location and increase the difficulty in a more gradual way. 

How to Train Take Five

If you are a fan of a clicker (yay!), you can actually put the clicker away for this exercise. The sound of a click can be stimulating for clicker-trained dogs, and the purpose of this exercise is to encourage relaxation. On a related note, if you usually say "YES!" in an excited way, change it to a calm, quiet, and slow "yes."

Capture the Behavior (Training Session 1)

• With your dog on a leash, walk to a chair and sit down. Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or clipping the leash to an immovable object. Give them just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Ignore your dog until they display a relaxed behavior such as sitting, lying down, looking away, casually sniffing, taking a deep breath, rolling onto a hip while lying down, putting their head on the floor while in a down, blinking slowly, closing their eyes, etc. (Most dogs will choose to sit or lie down during this exercise, but some dogs may be comfortable relaxing in a stand.)
• Without fanfare, gently, calmly, and quietly say "yes" and give your dog a small, medium-value food reward. (No clicker for this exercise!)
• Gently say "yes" to mark calm behaviors at least 3 more times, always pairing the marking word with a small, medium-value treat.
• Stand up and walk your dog away from the chair.
• Circle back to the chair and repeat the full sequence above 3 times.
• If your dog is not successful, try training at a different time/place/location that will make it easier for them to relax.

Name the Behavior (Training Sessions 2 and 3)

• With your dog on a leash, walk to a chair and sit down. Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or clipping the leash to an immovable object. Give them just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Ignore your dog until they display a relaxed behavior.
• Gently, calmly, and quietly say "yes" and give your dog a small, medium-value food reward. Do this at least 3 more times.
• Stand up and walk your dog away from the chair.
• Circle back to the chair and repeat the full sequence above, but this time say the word “settle” as your dog relaxes.
• When your dog is reliably displaying relaxed behavior when you sit in the chair, say the word “settle” before your dog relaxes (but when you feel confident they will do so).
• If your dog is not successful, try training at a different time/place/location that will make it easier for them to relax.

Add Duration to the Behavior (Training Session 4)

• With your dog on a leash, walk to a chair and sit down. Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or clipping the leash to an immovable object. Give them just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Ignore your dog until they display a relaxed behavior.
• Gently, calmly, and quietly say "yes" and give your dog a small, medium-value food reward. You may need to do this a couple more times to remind your dog how to play this game.
• When your dog is reliably displaying relaxed behavior when you sit in the chair, say the word “settle” before your dog relaxes (but when you feel confident they will do so).
• Repeat 10 times, but gradually increase the duration between when your dog offers the behavior and when you mark it with a gentle "yes" and a small, medium-value food reward.
• If your dog stops displaying relaxed behavior, lessen the duration so that they can be successful. Gradually increase the duration, but only as your dog is successful.

Add Distraction to the Behavior (Training Session 5)

• With your dog on a leash, walk to a chair and sit down. Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or clipping the leash to an immovable object. Give them just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Ignore your dog until they display a relaxed behavior.
• Gently, calmly, and quietly say "yes" and give them a small, medium-value food reward. You may need to do this a couple more times to remind your dog how to play this game.
• When your dog is reliably displaying relaxed behavior when you sit in the chair, say the word “settle” before your dog relaxes (but when you feel confident they will do so).
• Repeat 10 times, but gradually increase the distractions in the environment. Examples of this include: changing your body position, changing the location, changing who is asking for the behavior, changing the number of distractors in the environment, etc.
• If your dog stops demonstrating relaxed behavior, lessen the distractions so that they can be successful. Gradually increase the distraction, but only as your dog is successful.

Add Distance to the Behavior (Training Session 6)

• Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or sitting down and tethering them to an immovable object. Give your dog just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Move several feet away from your dog .
• Ignore your dog until they display a relaxed behavior.
• Gently, calmly, and quietly say "yes" and give them a small, medium-value food reward. You may need to do this a couple more times to remind your dog how to play this game.
• When your dog is reliably displaying relaxed behavior, say the word “settle” before your dog relaxes (but when you feel confident they will do so).
• Repeat 10 times, but gradually increase the distance between you and your dog .
• If your dog stops demonstrating relaxed behavior, lessen the distance so that they can be successful. Gradually increase the distance, but only as your dog is successful.

Proof the Behavior (Training sessions 7-10)

• With your dog on a leash, walk to a chair and sit down. Tether your dog to the ground by either standing on their leash or clipping the leash to an immovable object. Give them just enough room to stand, sit, or lie down.
• Experiment with all elements of distance, duration, and distraction, gradually making the experience more and more difficult, in a variety of different ways. 
• If your dog stops demonstrating relaxed behavior at any time, change the parameters so that they can be successful.

✔️ Keep in Mind

• It is very helpful to teach your dog to settle on a small mat, as the mat will give your dog a shortcut to learn what is being asked of them when in a different environment. Do you always have to have a mat? No! But you may want to bring one to places you need your dog to relax once you see how well it works. No need to lug a dog bed around. Mats can be unobtrusive: tea towels, a piece of a yoga mat, or a thin bath mat can all work well.
• In the beginning of the process, you can reward “fake calm” to help your dog understand what you are rewarding. Freely reward when your dog intentionally puts their head on the ground, for example, and then increase duration to create actual calm.  
• Make sure to calmly say "yes" and give a treat if/when your dog stays relaxed when there is any kind of environmental trigger (a dog barking, a siren, a baby crying, etc).
• While the exercise above has you working with a chair, you can go through this process as well with you standing and stepping on the leash (effectively tethering your dog to the ground). As crazy as it sounds, to complete these exercises while you are standing will mean a whole new skill for your dog . they will need your help to generalize this behavior by training it under different variables.
• Find any and all ways to deliver a treat directly to your dog ’s mouth when they naturally relax. Put little cups of treats around your house to help this happen. Always carry a treat pouch when out and about with your dog .
• A great reward for a longer-term settle is a high-value, long-lasting chew such as a bully stick, tendon, or pig ear. Consider bringing one along if you are on your way to enjoy coffee outside with a friend. These kinds of edible training tools continually reinforce calm behavior, as many dogs find chewing relaxing.
• Just as important as your dog 's level of relaxation is your level of relaxation. If you are wound up, stressed, or antsy, consider doing some deep breathing before training. If you are relaxed, it will be much easier for your dog to relax. Conversely, if you are tense, your dog will very likely be tense as well.
  

Lesson Activity

Recommended Media for Training Settle

• Watch: The Calm Settle for Dogs and Puppies, Emily Larlham, Dog Training by Kikopup, YouTube
• Watch: Rewarding Calm and Settled Behavior, Guide Dogs for the Blind
• Listen: How Do I Help My Dog to Settle, Dr. Holly Tett, Letters From Your Dog
  (skip to 2:30 for content)
• Listen: Episode 191: Get Your Dog To Calm Down With This Common Sense Protocol For Relaxation, Susan Garrett, Shaped by Dog 
• Nerd Out by Listening: Episode #67: Settle Down, Hannah Brannigan, Drinking from the Toilet
• Read: Teach Your Dog to Settle Down, Pat Miller, Whole Dog Journal
• Nerd Out by Reading: Dr. Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol
  
  (Task sheets for the protocol can be found here.)