Easy Ways to Encourage Calmness in Your Dog
Owners often come to me saying that their dog is always on the go and struggles to settle. However, there are some simple ways we can encourage our dogs to relax by tapping into their biology and natural instincts.
Sniffing, licking and chewing are naturally calming behaviours for dogs. Doing these activities release endorphins and help our dogs relax. It also provides them with ways to exhibit their natural behaviours and provides them with mental stimulation.
Here are easy ways to encourage these behaviours, resulting in a calmer, happier dog.
1. Sniffing
- Scatter your dog’s meals in the garden or use a snuffle mat instead of their food bowl. You feed them every day anyway, so this takes no extra time on our part.
- Hide things for your dog to find, such as food, toys or even yourself!
- Instead of just giving your dog a chew or treat or new toy, hide it in your home and get them to sniff it out.
- Let your dog sniff on their walks. Instead of rushing their walk, take your time and let them sniff for as long as they want.
2. Licking
- Give your dog your empty peanut butter jars for them to lick out. (Make sure they are 100% peanut butter and don’t contain artificial sweeteners, especially xylitol or birch sugar.)
- Use lickimats! Simply spread on toppings and get your dog licking. You can even freeze them so they last even longer. Good toppings are mashed banana, JR Pate or peanut butter.
- If your dog eats wet dog food, give it to them on a lickimat instead of just in a bowl. This will make it last longer as well as encourage more licking behaviours.
3. Chewing
- Ensure your dog has access to a variety of toys made of different textures. Some soft, some harder.
- Give your dog healthy chews on a regular basis. Buffalo skins and Beef Tails are fairly long lasting. This will help your dog’s dental health as well as encouraging calmness.
These are some simple ways to use our dog’s natural instincts to encourage calmness. However, don’t forget to reward your dog for being calm whenever you spot it!
Often, we only reward our dogs for active behaviours, however we should remember to reward them for calm behaviours too. Next time you see your dog chilling in their bed, be sure to give them some praise for it.
Rewarded behaviour is more likely to be repeated so reward the behaviours you want more of!
References
Dogs for Good: https://www.dogsforgood.org/2020/03/good-idea-lick/#:~:text=Giving%20dogs%20something%20to%20lick,are%20always%20a%20big%20hit.
Duranton, C. and Horowitz, A., 2019. Let me sniff! Nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 211, pp.61-66. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159118304325
Arhant, C., Winkelmann, R. and Troxler, J., 2021. Chewing behaviour in dogs–A survey-based exploratory study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 241, p.105372.
Bjone, S., Brown, W., Billingham, J., Harris, A. and McGenity, P., 2005, May. Influence of chewing on dental health in dogs. In Annual Australian Veterinary Association Conference (pp. 16-19).
