Help Your Busy-Body Dog Relax and Learn to Shut Off

00:00 — Kati introduces dogs that stay constantly active, pace, and struggle to settle.

Does your dog seem to have the attention span of a goldfish <laugh>? Does it seem like they're always on go, go, go. And they just don't settle? They don't have an off switch. Uh, and it's just running around in circles all the time. Or maybe just maybe you give 'em a little freedom and the second you're not looking, it's like they have some magic power to know that and they're stealing a sock or chewing a shoe, or they're chewing on the chair or chewing the walls or eating the rugs, <laugh>, or whatever it is your dog does.

If this sounds like you, you're not alone. This episode is for you. Have a listen. Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered Trigger Warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the Truth in Dog Training.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I am Kati Peppe, owner of Diamond Canine Dog Training in Biddeford, Maine. We specialize in eco training, both for nice reliable off leash obedience as well as behavior modifications. So helping people stop all of those pesky, unwanted behaviors like barking leash, pulling, jumping up all of that business and more serious things like leash reactivity, resource guarding, any kind of aggression, separation issues, anxiety issues, love, love, love doing in depth state of mind, work with dogs that are anxious, fearful or nervous. We also offer puppy training.

So that's who we are and what we do. And this podcast is our way of sharing everything that we see and do and learn and talk about every day with you guys. So we know if this is what we're doing with everybody else. Um, then it's probably what you guys wanna know about too.

And this information is, is really hard to find. Um, a lot of it is anyway because the internet's just full of garbage nowadays and internet, YouTube personality trainers that are just, um, full of garbage to be frank. So our passion really is getting all this information out there and available to the folks that want it, um, because it's hard to find. So that's what we're doing here. And today we wanna talk about a really, really common issue, uh, that we're talking about with so, so many of our clients, and that is dogs that are just busy bodies.

Um, they're just on go all the time. And sometimes it just makes the owners like frantic, right? Because like the dog is just constant energy. Like it's just constant motion. And sometimes it's neurotic, like going in circles and pacing, going back and forth from window to window.

Sometimes there's barking involved. A lot of times there's chewing involved, um, and they're chewing the chairs or the shoes or you know, the furniture, the rugs, um, or you know, sometimes it's just, it's just too much. Like they're just a big ball of energy all the time and you wish that they would just shut off sometimes, right? It's like there's a time and a place to be crazy and get your energy out, but not all the time and not everywhere, right? Like maybe your house isn't real big and you don't need a dog that's just tearing around all the time, being nutty.

Um, I don't allow that in my house. That would be crazy. So we're gonna talk about that today. Um, and what are some of the common mistakes? What are some of the things you can do to start changing that? And then how do we use our training to change that?

Okay, so there's a huge spectrum here when we're talking about dogs that are on go, right? Dogs that don't settle well on their own. So sometimes we're talking about some serious stuff where dogs are being very destructive. Um, this might be destruction in the home. It can also be like self-mutilation, like they just can't settle and they start nibbling their paws or their tail, things like that. Some dogs develop obsessions and they're chasing lights and shadows, or they might have a toy they become obsessed with. It's usually a ball, right? And they run around just throwing it at people and barking and they carry it around everywhere and it just becomes like this constant thing that they always have to be doing.

04:00 — Busy dogs may destroy furniture, chase shadows, obsess over toys, or mutilate their paws…

Um, with some dogs, it could be barking. They become constantly obsessed with barking, barking out the windows, barking at the door, looking out the windows for things to bark at to see if anything's around.

Um, and sometimes they're tearing back and forth, looking out all the windows. Sometimes it's multiples of these. We definitely have dogs that have all of this stuff that I've mentioned going on. So obviously that's an extreme case. Um, but it can also just be, you know, dogs that just don't settle. They just kind of have all this nervous energy and they're sort of pacing around all the time. Um, always have to be in the middle of everything. And you know, it's like they sit down for two seconds and they get back up, they sit down for two seconds and they get back up.

Uh, and they're just kind of always sniffing around or always looking for something, uh, to get into, to get their attention or to chew on or, or who knows? But it's like they just, they never just like go lay down and just chill out for an extended period of time.

Um, some dogs, it's like going back and forth to the door to ask to go out, even though they don't need to go to the bathroom. It's like, I'm just bored. Some dogs develop, uh, obsessions with their water even, right? So it's like, I'm just gonna drink because I don't know what else to do. So it's almost like they just become so uncomfortable, just existing that they can't just exist. It becomes impossible. <laugh>. So, so let's talk about this a little bit because really no matter where your dog falls on the spectrum, treatment's really the same, right?

The way you handle this is really the same. The only thing I would say that's really different is, you know, for a dog that's exhibiting unwanted behaviors, dangerous behaviors, annoying behaviors, in addition to the inability to like settle, you're going to need to address those behaviors directly, right?

So like I mentioned, um, tail chewing, right? Self-mutilation, I mentioned barking out the windows, I mentioned, uh, all those things, those are things you're definitely going to have to confront and you're going to have to tie a correction to those behaviors, a punisher to those behaviors, right? Because you have to tell your dog, no, no, no, no, you can't do that anymore. That's so, so important guys, because without that conversation you're really just wallpapering over things. So you're not fixing the problem, right? So in a recent episode, I talked about getting to the root cause of your dog's issues, um, which is just not something that's important, right?

So some people are gonna say, oh, you need to find out why your dog is barking and why your dog is chewing its tail and why your dog is chasing lights. No, you don't need to figure that out, I promise you.

You don't need to figure that out. It doesn't matter. Um, you're just gonna fix it, right? So if you can fix it without figuring it out, then why do you have to waste your time being a detective? Your dog can't speak English. Like I don't know if you've realized that yet or not, but they can't. They are never gonna be able to answer questions about their childhood. Not that it would matter <laugh>, because that's not what's going on here. <laugh>, okay? So it's just a genetic propensity, right? So your dog is just wired in a way that this is a behavior that comes naturally to them.

'cause more or less, like that's what your dog is always doing, right? Unless you intervene and you teach them to do something unnatural and you require it, they're just gonna do whatever comes natural, right? So we call that like the lizard brain, right?

08:00 — Kati compares impulsive behavior to a lizard brain operating without learned inhibition or consequence…

Like if we just walked around all day doing whatever came naturally and not giving it any actual thought about the consequence, that's lizard brain, right? It's sort of emotional, irrational, just whatever impulse you have. And so that's just what your dog is doing. Um, and so you have to intervene and you have to wire the brain to be different. And that requires the use of a variation of consequences to shape something different, both positive and negative. So important, important, important to have that conversation with your dog. Uh, you know, if they're doing the barking, if they're doing the chewing on things, they shouldn't be chewing, if they're self mutilating, any of that stuff barking out the windows.

Like you have to tell them no. Right? And you have to know how to do that. So, and we talk about that a ton. You'll say no when the behavior begins to occur and you will follow up after you say no with a tangible negative consequence.

And it has to be a consequence that's meaningful enough that there is a real reduction in the behavior and hopefully complete elimination, right? So it's not necessarily fair to expect that your dog will stop that behavior after you tell them once, right? Because dogs need to see a pattern. So you might have to tell them a few times, right? But most behaviors, not all, and not all dogs, right? 'cause everybody's different, uh, and they all learn differently and they all have a different ability to learn and to inhibit behaviors. But most dogs and most behaviors, if you're properly correcting them, you're only gonna have to do it maybe two or three times.

And that behavior, it's gonna go away. So if this is something you've been having that conversation with your dog over and over again for a long time, I would say there's something missing in your process.

Most likely it's either timing or it's by the way, not timing of the consequence, but timing of your marker. So if you don't know what that means, then rest assured there's probably something wrong with your process, okay? But it could be a timing issue, it could just be that the consequence is not meaningful enough, right? And you can get creative with your consequence. Uh, as long as it works and it doesn't cause any harm to the dog, you can get creative. But we have a few that we lean on pretty heavily. I know I talk about this a lot, but it's both a leash pop on a prong collar or a bonker, which is just a rolled up cotton towel or my favorite for most things.

Not all is a correction on an eco because it's just very, very easy and practical for our customers to do.

But anyway, that conversation is going to need to be had. However, that alone won't always get you where you wanna go. It'll be a huge difference, right? If you can stop your dog from running around like crazy, barking out the windows, or you can stop your dog from munching on their own tail and having to bring them to the vet. If you can stop your dog from chewing up your dining room chairs, you know, whatever it is that they're doing, you have the power to stop those behaviors. And I would say if there's going to be a period of time where you're not around to see or address those behaviors, you have to put your dog in a kennel.

You have to. 'cause otherwise they're still gonna practice this stuff and it's not gonna go away and there's nothing you can do about it. So now you're just setting yourself and your dog up for this cycle where like they get corrected for doing the stuff sometimes and not other times.

And that's gonna be more stressful for everybody in the house, you included. So please, please, please, like, you gotta understand if you're not there to have the conversation with your dog and they're gonna rehearse those behaviors, they have to be in the kennel, right? And not forever. Once you know they're not doing that stuff anymore and they're not gonna make that choice, they're gonna make better choices, then maybe you won't need to put them in the kennel. But really it's the safest place for your dog anyway when you're not home. And I wish more people, um, would utilize the kennel.

12:00 — When owners cannot supervise, crating prevents dogs from rehearsing barking, destruction, or self-mutilation.

And I mean most dogs, if they're well adjusted, they're just gonna lay down somewhere and wait for you to come home anyway. So what's the difference? <laugh>, they can do that right in their kennel. And most dogs are very, very comfortable there and they're not rehearsing all of these neurotic behaviors that we want them to stop.

Um, so that conversation will need to be had. However, in addition to that, teaching your dog just how to be still and exist is a skill that 99% of people just don't focus on when their dog is growing up, right? So we teach our puppy all kinds of cool stuff, but we never really teach them how to be still, we never teach them how to be still. And we attribute their inability to being still to being a puppy. And yeah, there's some truth to that, right? It's gonna be a lot harder for a puppy. Their attention span is shorter, they're more playful, they're more curious.

Everything is new and novel and exciting, I get it. But it's easier to start then in small increments, lower standards than it is to start when your dog is an adult. So start this early if you have a puppy where it's like, okay, we're just gonna practice like short periods of just being still so that it's not a completely new concept when your dog gets older, right?

And who knows, A lot of times once you show your dog how to do something, they then choose to do it naturally on their own. And then you see it more and more. And this is no exception. So what we see is once we teach a dog to lay down on command, they just start laying down all the time, right? So if you practice real short periods of still time with your puppy, they might actually choose on their own to be still sometimes, right? Especially as they get older. But you can absolutely nurture the opposite behavior.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Keep 'em busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. And then that's all they'll ever choose to do because that's all they know. It's all they've ever known. So show them something different, right? And it's like, well, okay, how do I do that?

Well, there's the advanced way, which would be like proper training, right? And we're gonna talk about that 'cause that's what we do. Obviously it's what we specialize in. But again, even if you don't have that, there are still things you can do, right? Put your dog on a leash. Your puppy or your adult dog. Doesn't matter. Put 'em on a leash. Um, at some point, you know, if your dog is over the 12, 14, 16 week mark, probably on a prong caller, right? So we have some leash communication. Um, but either way, regardless they're on a leash and practice, literally practice just standing there, right?

So if it is a puppy, make sure they've been out and they've gone potty. Um, 'cause that's always the first thing we do. But just sitting still on a leash, you'll see it'll drive dogs nuts. Sit down in a kitchen chair with your dog on a leash right next to you. Don't look at them, don't talk to them. Just sit there. What do they do? What do they do? Do they just sit there with you quietly? Do they relax into a down and go to sleep? Great. A lot of dogs aren't going to do that.

They're gonna pace as much as you'll let them. Hopefully the leash is nice and short. You shouldn't give them six feet of leash.

16:00 — A short-leash stillness drill allows dogs to pace, circle, whine, and learn that nothing…

They're gonna pace, they're gonna circle, they're gonna sit down, they're gonna get up, they're gonna whine. They might actually start demanding things of you and barking at you or parring at you, depending on how uncomfortable they get and how pushy they are and, and all of that. Um, but just that simple exercise will give you a little window into like, what are my dog's coping skills? <laugh>, can they stand like just existing, like just doing nothing for five minutes, 10 minutes.

So do that. Do it out in the yard. Do the same thing. You can stand, you can sit on the grass, you can bring a chair, do whatever you want, but you put your dog on a real short leash and you just stand there, you do nothing. Now, I recommend when you do that, if your dog wants to lay down, you let 'em lay down. Now the idea is if you have the leash and prong on your dog, then if your dog is starting to pace, starting to circle, you can apply that gentle pressure straight up until your dog sits, okay?

And if they don't sit, 'cause some dogs won't. If they don't know what that means and they haven't been conditioned, they might not, you can say sit, right? So you apply gentle pressure straight up in the air, not back, not rocking the dog, not jerking the dog. Just gentle pressure straight up in the air. If the dog isn't sitting, you can verbally say, sit and the butt hits the ground and you relax your leash. Okay? So that's pressure and release. We recently talked about this on another episode, right? And so every time your dog pops up, you're gonna start just applying that straight, straight, gentle pressure up.

So all you're doing is you're developing that silent, right? Because eventually you won't have to say sit anymore. If you have to say it in the beginning, that will go away probably after a few times pressure up. If the dog doesn't sit, you'll say sit. Then when they do, you'll relax the leash. Okay? So teaches your dog that when they put their butt down, the leash will relax and things will get comfortable again. So you're starting to wire some communication there. That's important. 'cause every time, if you have a really crazy dog that just doesn't know how to settle, this is a, an amazing, amazing first step to take.

And it's so easy. Anybody can do this.

All right? So they get up to get, do circles and start pacing and whining. That pressure turns on straight up. They sit, you relax the leash. And you might have to do that 10, 20, 30 times while you're standing there for five or 10 minutes. And that's okay. And we want it to be as quiet as possible. So not a bunch of yapping at the dog, right? But that's gonna help teach your dog. Just plant it and settle. That's it. Everything's fine. We don't have to do anything else. We can just be comfortable in our own skin just hanging out here for a few minutes.

Um, do it in the yard, do it at a gas station, grocery store, parking lot. Do it in a Home Depot, right? So you can make it harder and harder. But it's the same simple exercise where it's like, we're just gonna stand still. We're not doing anything. We're not going to check things out. We're not going to sniff everything. We're not going to say hi to any, we're just hanging out. We're just gonna stand still, right? So that's the beginning and that's something anybody can do. And I would argue it's an incredibly valuable exercise for at least half the dogs that we see.

20:00 — For whining or barking during stillness practice, Kati recommends quick leash pops instead of…

Like literally just be still dip. Now if your dog is really whiny or barky during this exercise, then I recommend you use more of a popping action on your leash rather than pressure. So I described that gentle pressure straight up in the air. That is to get the dog to physically put their butt down right into a sit. And again, you can say sit if you have to, if the dog doesn't seem to know what to do. But always give them a few seconds to do it on their own. And then if they don't, then add the word sit.

Okay? However, for the behavioral, um, auditory stuff, you know, the barking, the whining, I would disagree with that, with a leash pop. So leash pop is an art. Takes a little skill to get good at. So if you're not good at it, don't worry about it. Just practice. Watch your videos. Um, there's some real wrist flicking action in there. And uh, it is important that it's very quick and snappy, right? So the idea isn't to pull the dog, it is to pop the leash.

And so it really is an art and takes a little bit of practice, but you know, even if it's not perfect, you're still probably gonna get your point across, right? And so basically you're just starting to disagree with some of those neurotic tendencies. Like, Hey, we don't need to whine, we certainly don't need to bark, right? And maybe if it's a little bit of whining, maybe you let it slide for now, but some dogs are, are crazy and they'll just escalate. Um, and especially the barking, like you can't, what good is the exercise if your dog's gonna stand there and bark, right?

They're using that as a crutch to get through. Uh, excessive licking, excessive sniffing are also things that dogs will do. That's why we don't allow any of that when we do these exercises. It's important to actually be still, it doesn't mean your dog will be a statue, right? But we're not going to allow them to use a crutch to get through it. They'll start frantically sniffing things or, um, they'll start frantically licking at your arm, right? So it's not like a little kiss to say hello or I'm excited to see you. It's like, I can't stay still.

I can't stay still. I can't stay still. And so the lick, lick, lick, lick, lick,

Right? Excessive whining, especially whining that escalates or barking, those are things you really do have to disagree with. Um, you know, and if you can use pressure to get your dog to stop doing those things, then maybe that's fine. But most of the time I find it's much more effective to just give the dog a leash pop. How firm the leash pop is depends on the dog. Some of them are very sensitive, some of them are not. Right? So just whatever works with your dog,

Right? And the idea remember, isn't for your dog to be perfect. That's not the idea behind the training. So I always like to take a second and just remind people of this, this isn't a performance. You're not going out somewhere. Um, or whether you're doing this in the house, the yard, or you know, on a field trip. It, the idea isn't for your dog to be perfect. The idea isn't, well, we're gonna go out and we're gonna sit there for 10 minutes and you're gonna be totally silent and quiet and you're just gonna chill and you're gonna lay down, take a nap.

You're gonna be perfect. But that's not the goal. You already know your dog's not gonna do that, right? I mean, unless they are gonna do that, but <laugh>, then this probably isn't a high priority for you. If your dog is great. So the idea is to start having the conversations and showing your dog another way to be,

Right? So when you go out and you do this and your dog's a little neurotic, and your dog's a little extra and they're, they just can't shut it off like we expected that there's nothing to be frustrated by. And now you get to have that magic conversation with your dog, that conversation you've never had before. And that should feel good. 'cause like now we're actually doing something different, right? So you're just gonna address those moments and even if you don't see it right away, and you probably will see a difference right away, even if it's not, um, as dramatic as you want, most likely you're gonna see, oh my God, I'm actually, I'm talking to my dog through the leash and I'm actually seeing a different response than usual.

24:00 — Leash conversations create visible changes by establishing direction, boundaries, and standards in everyday settings.

I'm actually seeing my dog choose to do something different than usual. So just as simple exercise that I'm describing can create such a difference in a dog.

Like if I had a dog for a couple of days and we did this, just this exercise several times when I saw the owner two days later, they would be absolutely blown away by their dog's behavior because they're getting clear instruction now. They're getting direction through the leash. We're setting boundaries and standards and we're showing them another way to be. That's huge. So go out, have those conversations with your dog, have them in the house, have them outside. Just put your dog on a leash and practice this, right? And so the other thing that we can do is with a more advanced training technique, right?

Teaching your dog the down command, teaching your dog the place command. These are things you can use to your advantage to teach your dog how to just exist and be still and not have to be doing all kinds of other monkey business. So that's why we love our duration work so much. Uh, yeah, place is great for functional reasons. Down is great for functional reasons. People use it a lot when they're trying to cook dinner and the kids are running around, they just don't want the dog underfoot or like guests are coming through the door or they have service people in the house.

Absolutely, totally. I think that's great. However, the reason we really love using these stationary commands is what it does for the dog's state of mind.

So when we put our dog on place, there is nothing else to do but place. Okay? There is no frantic sniffing. If you see them doing that, you should address it. <laugh>, there is no going around the house looking for dirty socks. There is no scavenging on the floor for crumbs from the kids. There is no doing circles, pacing, running by the windows and looking out all of them for something to bark at. There is, there is none of that because all you can do is place. And so the dog has to get comfortable with just doing that thing just laying there.

Okay? But in order to do that, you do have to know how to teach your dog those commands. And then you ultimately have to hold your dog accountable for those commands, right? So a dog that has trouble being still, they're not gonna stay on place, they're not gonna stay in a down. You have to give them a reason to. And that's where the corrections come in. And so we do ultimately, after we've gone through the whole process of teaching these commands, we do hold dogs accountable for them. There is a correction if you get up out of the command, right?

And once they know that if it's done properly, they just stay put for an hour, two hours, three hours, maybe up to four, right? And then after that, I would definitely like to let my dog get up and, and stretch out, um, and have a break.

Um, but you know, they can also, it's okay for them to like rearrange themselves on the place cot. Like that's fine. Dogs can stand up and kind of do their little donut and get comfortable and that's fine, right? But if a dog is standing up because they're escalating and they're thinking about getting excited and getting off there, that's, that's problematic. That's not allowed, right? But so the idea is they learn how to just exist guys, and they don't have a choice, right? Because now it's not negotiable. Like we've set this boundary and this expectation and they have to do it, and now they start growing real coping skills just so valuable.

28:00 — Holding dogs accountable for leaving commands helps calm behavior become routine rather than negotiable.

But again, even that only does so much good if you're then gonna let your dog off place or out of the down, right? And they're being free, if you haven't had that conversation with them about stealing the socks, chewing the chairs, chewing the shoes, um, then you might still see that behavior, right? Even though they have these new coping skills, doesn't mean they're gonna choose to use them. It'll be easier for them to use them and they will be more likely to choose to use them, but they might not, right? They're still gonna be like, oh, there's a shoe I love chewing on a shoe.

Let me grab that shoe. Like, dogs are opportunists, right?

So you have to do both. You have to simultaneously help your dog grow their coping skills, teach them this new way to be. But you still have to have that conversation that, hey, you can't, you see a chew a shoe and it smells good. You can't, you can't chew it. <laugh>, you see? So you gotta have both, right? And that's how you get maximum, maximum, um, progress and success with your, with, with this behavior. Lastly, everything out there on the internet, guys, and, and this is really kind of the part that I have been wanting to get to, um, because I find that this, this right here that I'm about to lay on you is the biggest piece that people are missing.

Like, they just don't, they don't understand because everything out there says to keep your dog busy. So think about that, right? If our whole problem is that the dog has to be busy all the time and our solution is keep the dog busy, isn't that lunacy? Let me answer that for you. Yes, that is lunacy.

That is lunacy. That's like if you meet someone who is a shopaholic and has a spending problem saying that the solution is to give them more money, <laugh>, it's like when the alcoholic runs out of alcohol, the solution is not to give them more alcohol. Okay? So what am I saying? I'm saying still time, right? We've been talking about still time. So the funny thing is we'll have these conversations and we'll talk about, you know, we'll teach the dog place, we'll teach the dog that they're held accountable for place. So they have to stay there.

And then the next question I'll get from people is, well, can I give them a bone while they're there? Can I give them a chew toy while they're there? No <laugh> no. And I'm not mad at my customers for asking, and I'm not saying, uh, what a stupid question. I'm just, because it's not surprising.

'cause that's what everything out there says. And so it's really unnatural to the person, to the human. It's like you gotta really change your perception. So you have to throw out everything you've read on the internet, right? And all these quote unquote experts telling you to keep your dog busy and stimulated, oh, my dog's dreaming. You can <laugh> hear him making some noise. So I've put him to sleep with my podcasting. Hopefully I'm not putting putting you guys to sleep too. Um, but no, your dog needs to be still when they're doing this stuff, otherwise that defeats the whole purpose.

So you're giving your dog a crutch. You're, you're enabling your dog, you're giving them an out, you're giving them a way out of building the coping skills they have to do the hard work, which is just be still, I mean, shit, I wish someone would make me do that. <laugh>, I wouldn't complain. Um, so yes, your dog can have chews and they can have toys and they can have all those fun puzzles and the frozen kongs. And of course there's nothing wrong with any of that stuff, but there is something wrong with it if you are only using it as a way to keep your dog busy all the time, that's bad, busy all the time is bad.

32:00 — Chews, toys, frozen Kongs, and lick mats should be treats rather than constant entertainment.

So again, all dogs are different, different personalities individually, different breeds, different lines. Some dogs are bred for work, right? So it's gonna look a little different for every dog. And everyone's needs are a little bit different and every family's a little bit different. But for, for the average family, your dog should mostly be able to be mellow and chill and then have that broken up with periods of exercise, right? And periods of play or other stimulation with a, a toy or chew. Um, but those really are treats, right? So if you give your dog a frozen Kong, you give your dog one of those lick mats, whatever, it's a treat.

It's not to keep them busy, right? It's like, here's a fun thing you can do for a few minutes. Um, and we do that once in a while, right? And I don't do any of that with my dogs.

They get bones, they get the, uh, marrow bones and that, that's really all I give my dogs. Um, uh, well that's not true. I have sort of bully stick things, um, mostly for my pug because my bigger dog would just chew through that in five minutes and they're very expensive. So he doesn't get those. He just gets the marrow bones. Um, but that's it. And, and they don't have them all the time, right? And I don't have a problem leaving that stuff in their crates for them. So when I have to leave for a few hours, they're in their crate, they have a bone, that's fine.

But I will say if I noticed that they were just a nar and away at that bone a hundred percent of the time, right? Or 90% of the time I would take it out, I would take it out because I need my dog to be able to be okay with nothing to do. And so if I suspect that they're not, because they're always chewing away at the chew thing I put in there, I'll take it out, right? And I'll just put it in periodically, but they're going to have periods of time without it. Because one way or another, whether it's voluntary or not, they have to have long periods of time with nothing to do and be okay with that.

It's so, so important. So yes, you can give your dog those things, but be conscious of how often we're doing it. Your dog doesn't need to have something to chew on 24 hours a day. And it might sound obvious to some folks, but some people think they do. Again, the narrative out there is you need to keep your dog busy and stimulated. Well, guess what? Staying in command is stimulating enough. That's hard work. Your dog now has to focus on that. If you really wanna give your dog mental stimulation, do it with something productive instead of something frantic, right?

35:00 — Structured heel work provides productive mental stimulation, while puppies should sleep and practice coping…

So chewing on bones, chewing on their tail, <laugh> really kind of the same thing. Like it's just kind of impulsive and frantic. Give them, go out and, and put your dog in a heel and walk in a heel for an hour that's mentally draining. Do that, that's stimulating.

So I would much rather see people using exercise or, you know, busy work. I would rather see productive, um, busy stuff, you know, rather than just frantic, chaotic, no rules, no expectations, no boundaries. And again, even that stuff is okay, but it's a treat. It's really not like a multiple times a day sort of thing, or it shouldn't be, in my opinion for most dogs. For most dogs. Now if your dog is like small and has no behavioral issues, like then maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe you can treat your dog like a baby. You can keep 'em busy all the time.

You can spoil them and maybe things are great and you know what? Great if that's working for you, I don't have a problem with that.

But the truth is, most of the time, even when people say that's the case, if you keep talking to them a little bit longer, it's not, they'll be like, well, she does do this. Well, she does do that. Well, she does like freak out when I leave or she does jump all over me and she, you know, she'll start biting me if I'm not giving her attention. Like, you'll find out if you keep listening <laugh> that there's more to that story. Um, but if not, you know, if your dog's great, then great, then don't worry about it.

Right? But especially if your dog is really young, it's like, just 'cause things are great now, they might not stay that way because your dog hasn't fully developed yet. So you have to keep that in mind. It's like even if you have a puppy that seems pretty mellow and pretty chill, no real behavioral issues, it's like, that's great, but you don't even know your dog yet. They're not even exhibiting all of their stuff yet. They're too young. So it's like, why do we even wanna take the risk? Like let's set ourselves up for success and maximize these coping skills.

Let's teach it now while they're really young, rather than just waiting to see what happens as they move through the maturation process,

Right? I want my dog to be as stable and confident and cool as a cucumber if possible. So we start, we start young if we have 'em young. Um, and again, lower standards, shorter periods of time, of course. Um, but never, never too young to start seeing it,

Right? Never too young to start seeing it. And I mean, really young dogs honestly just sleep a ton anyway. Or they should be, if you're using your crate, they will <laugh>. So use that crate. All right guys, that's it for today's episode. Thank you for joining me. Please, please, please send me your questions or topics you would like discussed to Kati, Kati at Diamond Canine, C-A-N-I-N e.com. Would love, love, love to hear from you, always looking for new things to talk about. And, uh, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Uh, thanks for joining us again, and we look forward to the next time.