Hi
Our one year old girl has a great temperament and is very chilled at home and others homes. But we are struggling a bit with her if we go to a cafe or pub etc. One pub we go to she can sit up with us on the seat and she is fine, Sits quietly/goes to sleep/chills out. Anywhere else where we are sat on chairs/sofa and she is on the floor, she is a royal pain in the bum!

She will whine and bark, generally mooch around pulling to get to other people or just elsewhere. The only way to keep her quiet and vaguely still is to pretty much constantly feed treats, which she eventually gets fed up with and fusses anyway, and this makes it difficult to eat/drink ourselves. Can distract her for a short period playing focus games with treats, but as soon as the treats stop coming she loses interest, and this still requires one of us paying her full attention. She just never settles down, which is odd because at home or friends/family houses she will quite happily sleep/laze about anywhere including the floor.

We have tried taking various chews that would normally keep her occupied at home including filled kongs etc. She is only interested in the ones she can eat quickly like a Schmacko, and ignores anything that lasts longer than a Dentastick. Tried taking toys including brain puzzling ones, not interested. Advice from training class is to just ignore her and eventually she’ll get the picture that she needs to entertain herself. Completely agree with this and think it would work, however it’s just not practical out in public as we can’t have her barking the place down and disturbing everyone else. We can’t really practice this anywhere else with less people around as she is fine in all other scenarios.

Agree we will have made this worse by giving the treats as she now probably expects them, but just don’t know how to get out of this loop?? Any advice much appreciated

Use a piece of Vetbed/blanket/etc and teach her 'settle' at home then take it with you to the pub.

Agree with tatty-ead.

Have a special "Settle Mat"  - Vet bed or similar.  It can be something quite small and easy to carry.

Teach her at home by getting her to settle on the mat beside your chair or the sofa - and practise in different parts of the house in a range of different chairs - while you are eating, reading, watching TV etc. - and outside if it ever gets warm enough!

We've done this with our youngster and started when he was just a pup and it has worked brilliantly.  He now settles very easily and calmly in all sorts of places if we take the Vetbed with us.  It really makes a difference giving him a familiar base to settle down on.

We had him on the lead while he was learning.  We would ask him to "settle' and keep the lead short enough so that he could not wander right off the mat.  We would feed him treats once he had laid down and continue to feed him treats every so often as long as he remained lying down..  If he became restless we would ignore him until he settled again.  I'd sometimes tie the lead to the chair or table leg to anchor him being careful not to leave him and risk him strangling himself!

It has been very successful.  I am sure it will for your girl too although it might take her a little longer as you will be trying to change some habits which have developed over quite a long time so build up gradually.  Good luck.

One of my 4 won't settle in pubs unless I put my coat down for her or take her bed. Is it possible the floor in the pubs you're going too is just too uncomfortable for her to lie down and sleep on?

This isn't going to a popular reply but does she HAVE to go with you - wouldn't she be better off at home while you go out to enjoy yourself?   I'm suggesting this because it's getting to the point where so not to bother other people in the pub (cafe?) dogs are simply not allowed as often as in the past.  Yes taking her own pad with you might be kind and mean she does settle, but with food around, for eg., would she in any case?

^ This!  It may even be that she's not enjoying it at all, and is acting up because she finds the busyness and numerous stimuli too much to deal with at once.  That would fit with her settling when up on the chair with you, because she'll feel more secure and reassured up there.  Even the most social of dogs can have settings that are just too much for them.  My boy is a go-anywhere dog, even to the point that at a TTouch workshop, the practitioner was really thrown by him because he doesn't communicate with her at all, by which she means he doesn't yawn, lip lick, turn his head away etc if eye contact is made.  That's because he is totally at ease and doesn't care!  Yet put him somewhere busy like a town centre, and he goes into a panic because it's too much for him.

Thanks tatty-ead and Blay, will definitely give this a try. We’ve been working a settle at home and she is doing ok, but couldn’t get it to transfer to other places, so I like the idea of associating it with a mat or something. Will start work on this! Good to hear it has been successful for you, she is generally a very quick learner so fingers crossed we have some success!

Hi Chaumsong, it is possible I guess, I always just think because she’s happy sleeping on our wood floors at home she is happy sleeping anywhere, but I could be (and often am) wrong! Will see if a comfier place to lie helps her to settle down, thank you

Hi Mamabas, thanks for your response, no she doesn’t always have to come with us and often doesn’t, I’d just like her to be able to settle when she does. We’re probably talking once a month or so to a coffee shop on a weekend, as we combine her morning walk with a trip into our village, round the market etc, and stop for a coffee on the way back. Once a month or 6 weeks or so to the local pub.

Our town is very dog friendly so there are quite a lot of places dogs are welcome, we started taking her out as a pup to as many places as possible to get her socialised and used to different sights and noises. I’m now wondering if that maybe is part of the problem as when she was teeny she would ALWAYS be on my knee....

Hi Nikita, thanks for your reply, I had been considering this a bit myself before you mentioned and generally come back to the same interpretation as follows.

She is a bit of a diva in general (our fault), she has a tendency to demand attention, and doesn’t like being on the floor as she’s away from the action. She was similar in training classes, absolutely fine during the practical bits where she is involved. But when sat listening to the instructor, she would be restless and bark and pull around much in the same way she would in pub/cafe, despite having a number of beds/mats to settle on.

I consider her a very sociable dog, we haven’t met another dog or person she doesn’t like or won’t go up to (I would prefer she had a bit more caution to be honest) and I feel like she enjoys going out, as loves the attention she gets from people, and if we walk past our usual jaunts she will pull to go into the door every time.

BUT I guess it could also be interpreted as
She is overstimulated by the settings and needs us close by for reassurance, which would be supported by her mild separation anxiety. She is not great at being left alone, hence we prefer to take her places if we can. Again tho, she will whine and bark WHILE we are in sight/hearing distance and then settles down fine once no one to hear her. Which brings me back to her diva-ness and wondering whether she is really distressed at all or just playing us!

Ahh it’s a minefield, I go round in circles trying to figure her out sometimes!! Anyway thank you, and am grateful for any replies/ideas whether popular or not!

> Yes taking her own pad with you might be kind and mean she does settle, but with food around, for eg., would she in any case?

Mine certainly do, I take all 4 with me into pubs often and they lie down and don't move the entire time I'm there, I drop their leads beside them and I can even go up to bar or to the loo without them moving. They don't give anyone else cause to complain and usually families etc love them as they're so good with kids, they'll lie quietly while strange little people are petting them. One of my favourite walks ends in a lovely pub lunch, I often meet friends there and we also use it for group walks, once we had 14 dogs in there

To teach Settle, start with some really good treats in a bowl, your clicker, and an appropriately sized mat.

Step 1: Drop the mat down in front of you and be ready to click the instant the dog steps a paw on the mat.

Step 2: When you click, deliver a treat off the mat. We need the dog to hop off the mat, so he can earn another click and treat when he wanders back on.

Step 3: Stay quiet (and patient) as your dog figures out that his foot on the mat earns him a click. Resist the urge to point to, pull your dog over to, or otherwise “help” your dog get to the mat. Let your clicker do all the talking.

Step 4: As your dog catches on, you’ll notice that he’s almost always getting at least one paw on the mat. Great! Now you’re ready to “raise the bar,” and reward only when there are two paws on the mat.

Step 5: Continue to click and treat every time your dog has two pas on the mat until he’s almost always getting at least two paws on the mat. Then raise the bar and click only when there are three paws on the mat. Then only when he has all four paws on the mat.

Step 6: When you’re willing to bet me $100 that your dog will come to the mat and put all four feet on the mat, you’re ready to wait for your dog to sit. The “wait” part is very important — resist the urge to ask your dog to sit. Remain silent. Let the clicker do all the communication. Click only when your dog volunteers a sit (on the mat). I promise you, the sit will happen if you’re patient.

Step 7: After the dog is reliably coming to the mat and sitting automatically, you’re going to wait for him to lie down. Again, no talking, just wait and then click and treat when it happens.

It’s that easy to teach your dog to go settle on a mat.

Great description of how to clicker train a settle