I have a seven month old cocker spaniel. At the moment she is very unwilling to settle down in the lounge during the evening. She is only allowed in the lounge during the evening when I am around. I would like her to settle down so I can watch a bit of TV, instead she just wants to play continuously and then gets very cheeky and naughty!! When she is naughty I tell her off and then put her in the kitchen for 10 minutes or so.
Has anybody any suggestions on how I might teach her to settle or a least begin too?

Thanks Mark

Hi Mark,
I would guess that, because the lounge is a 'special' place, she is very excited about being allowed in there. It's a novelty. My dogs get very excited and hyper if they go upstairs, because they know they're not meant to be there! If she went in the lounge more often so it was a familiar, boring place, I'm sure she would settle down without any problem.
:)

Our 15 wk old pup was like this in the front room at first too - an absolute bundle of energy! she's still pretty active in the evenings and needs a little bit of attention, i think its partly just her age and the way her body's naturally wired.

but i definitely found that taking her into the lounge for play sessions in the day and just generally getting her accustomed to it worked a treat - also did similarly to you, in that if she was naughty in there during our acclimatisation sessions (ie chewing hte furniture was her fave) i put her out of the room, quietly and calmly but only for about 10-20 seconds, then let her back in, asked her to do something for me and praised her when she did it. She's in general pretty good in there now.

Oh and my current trick is to prepare a really tasty kong for her and give it to coincide with eastenders!! that way i can be 95% sure she won't be minxing around, doing things that need my attention when i want to be catching up on the latest dennis/sharon/phil plot twist......

HI!
I give my Akita pup the run of the house. In the mornings she gets into bed (daddies alarm clock!) and then has a wander round the entire house with her dad (our adult dog). She sits in the bathroom while either of us is having a soak and has her nails done while laid on the sofa. Granted we bred her in our last litter and she has had more time to get used to our house, but it should work the same way for you.
This way nothing is a new exciting experience to her so we don't get any mad dashes of bouncy play times when we are trying to watch a flick or catch up on our soaps. Giving her a few extra inches keeps her calm and quiet when she has to be.
Hope she calms down a little for you soon
Caz x

Sooty's the exact same! I've found that taking her for an hours walk at tea time settles her down for the rest of the evening.

i actually did the opposite and made the living room boring [no toys in there, just a chew or bone]- to get the message over that its a not very exciting place, just for quiet times not for play.

my puppy has the large kitchen, garden and garage for playing in and comes in the living room in the evenings only where i have trained her to stay on her beanbag with something to chew. when she was smaller i used to put her back in her bed in the kitchen if she got a bit too excitable, and try later. beforehand we have a good play or walk so she is a bit tired.

her reward is often a cuddle on my lap [she is, and is going to be, a small dog] if i can see she is fed up with chewing and hasn't settled to go to sleep.

it didn't take her long to catch on that the evening was a quiet time, and a time for a snuggle on her fleece and treats. now - and she is only 3+months old - she knows the routine, which was started from day one.