Helping your dog to settle in a cafe or pub

Cafe’s, pubs and restaurants can be quite a stimulating environment for dogs, with lots of noise, people chatting, distractions and smells of food! Giving your dog a chew or food activity toy to keep them busy might work for a small amount of time, but what happens when that’s finished? Do they get bored, frustrated or seek attention when you’re trying to have a conversation? Some dogs might even start to get protective of their area if they have high value treats. Helping them to settle and relax, by rewarding the calm instead can help them understand what is expected in these environments. You will need to teach a ‘place/bed/mat’ cue first and build duration before then taking this to different locations. Try doing this when watching TV, when you are both relaxed, and gradually build the reward increments. When you’re ready, take it to other locations but expect to reduce your duration first when there are lots of distractions. If you want this behaviour to become normalised I would be doing this frequently. So the bad news is that you might have to eat out quite a lot while in training 😉 Follow for more training and behavioural advice. #dogbehaviourist #dogtrainingadvice #dogbehaviour #dogbehavior #dogtrainer #dogtraining