Teaching your dog to be calm is a learned skill. So many dog owners focus too much on excited behavior and expelling their dog’s energy, but teaching your dog to be calm is such an  important way to keep your dog happy and well-balanced!

It also teaches us as responsible dog owners to be calm and patient with our dogs. Dog training is not just for dogs. The benefits in training our dogs also teaches us life skills (sometimes more than our dogs). Some of those benefits include patience, learning to relax, and managing stress/anxiety.

Dogs feel our emotions even more that we realize. If we are tense and worried, they will likely be as well. We need to control our breathing and check our patience. Our dogs want to please us and we need to be clear and most importantly fair with what we expect from them.

We also should always try to enjoy our time together and not get frustrated! Rome wasn’t built in a day and perfection is in the heavens! Dog training is an art and a practice.

There are a number of reasons that it is important to teach your dog calming skills..

• A calm dog will make better decisions

• A calm dog has better impulse control

• A calm dog tends to have less anxiety

• A calm dog can go more places with you!

All dogs greatly benefit from an owner who knows how to balance exercise, socialization and obedience.