Dog Won't Settle? Try Cheese Time, a Simple Game to Help Your Dog Relax
Updated: 6 days ago
If your dog won’t settle, you might notice them pacing around the house, following you from room to room, or getting up every time you sit down. Cheese Time is a simple, enjoyable training game I developed to help dogs practice staying in one place while building positive associations with relaxation.
Rather than waiting until your dog is struggling to calm down, Cheese Time gives you a way to practice settling when things are already going well. All you need is a little cheese, a few minutes, and a dog who’s ready to participate.
If your dog has always had trouble settling, learning a relaxation exercise like Cheese Time can be a helpful place to start. But if your dog is suddenly restless, pacing, or unable to get comfortable when that’s unusual for them, it’s worth checking with your veterinarian first. Pain, illness, and other medical problems can also make it difficult for dogs to relax.
Why Cheese Time Helps a Dog Who Won't Settle
Before we get into the specifics of Cheese Time, let's consider why such an approach is so valuable. Think about how we, as humans, incorporate calming activities into our daily routines to proactively combat stress. We often call this "self-care" - it might involve taking a relaxing walk, meditating, stretching our bodies, eating healthy food, or ensuring we get enough sleep. These practices are crucial for our well-being, helping us manage stress and maintain balance in our lives.
Similarly, our dogs need their own version of self-care to thrive behaviorally and emotionally. Cheese Time can be thought of as a form of canine self-care, addressing your dog's need for relaxation, focus, and fun. It's not just about behavior modification; it's about nurturing your dog's overall well-being. And here's the beautiful part: when you engage in this game with your dog, it becomes a form of self-care for you too. The joy and connection you'll experience while playing Cheese Time can lift your spirits and strengthen the relationship between you and your dog.
You might be wondering, "Why call it Cheese Time?"
Well, the answer is simple - because it involves cheese!
To get started with this game, you'll want to have some cheese readily available in your fridge for daily implementation. I prefer cheese because it's a high-value treat for most dogs. Specifically, I recommend buying a package of string cheese. String cheese is ideal for Cheese Time because you can slowly tear it into tiny pieces, allowing you to engage in the game for longer periods. The ability to create numerous small rewards from a single stick of cheese is key to the game's effectiveness. However, if cheese doesn't agree with your dog's digestive system, don't worry.
Any high-value food can serve as a suitable replacement for this exercise. The goal is to use something your dog finds irresistible, making the game both rewarding and engaging. Remember to use the right amount of food for your individual dog—some dogs don’t need an entire string cheese. When I’m practicing, I often split one string cheese between 2-3 dogs.
What Your Dog Needs to Know First
Before diving into Cheese Time, it's important to ensure your dog has a few basic skills in place. These prerequisites set the foundation for a successful and enjoyable game. Your dog should be able to either sit or down in place for a duration while being rewarded at a rate that motivates them to remain stationary.
Specifically, your dog should know how to hold a sit or down position for a minimum of 10 seconds. This baseline skill is crucial because Cheese Time builds upon and reinforces this ability to stay in place. These foundational skills ensure that your dog can fully engage with and benefit from the Cheese Time exercise.
Cheese Time uniquely combines operant and classical conditioning principles. While classical conditioning is always at work in the background of any interaction, this exercise consciously harnesses its power. The game is crafted with a dual purpose: it reinforces the desired behavior of staying in place (operant conditioning) while simultaneously fostering a specific emotional state in your dog during this behavior (classical conditioning). By concurrently rewarding the physical action and shaping the emotional response via cheese, we're establishing a robust, positive association that transcends simple obedience. This combination enables your dog not just to stay in place, but to genuinely enjoy and feel relaxed while doing so, increasing the likelihood of the behavior being replicated in various situations.
Cheese Time serves as an excellent method to help your dog down-regulate their nervous system. This aspect of the game is particularly valuable as it plays a crucial role in preventing a wide range of behavior problems. By engaging in this calming activity, you're providing your dog with a powerful tool to manage stress levels. Practiced regularly, it can be a helpful part of the bigger picture when you're working on reactivity, fear, anxiety, aggression, destructiveness, or excessive barking. The ability to calm down and remain composed in various situations is a vital skill for dogs, much like stress management techniques are for humans. By regularly practicing Cheese Time, you're essentially giving your dog a reliable opportunity to experience calmness, thereby promoting more appropriate responses to their environment.
How to Play Cheese Time
Now, let's delve into the actual steps of Cheese Time:
Announce Cheese Time: Begin with an enthusiastic announcement to your dog: "Is it time for Cheese Time?!" This establishes a ritual that initiates the practice and teaches your dog a verbal cue that will help you harness the feelings of cheese time should you need to at another time.
Prepare the cheese: Head to the fridge and grab a packet of string cheese.
Choose a location: Select a consistent spot in your house for this activity. Choose somewhere you both enjoy and that isn't overly distracting for your dog.
Position your dog: Have your dog sit or lie down in their preferred spot.
Open the cheese: Ceremoniously open the string cheese packet while your dog watches with excitement and eager anticipation.
Prepare cheese pieces: Begin to peel off small pieces of cheese.
Offer the cheese: Once you have a few pieces ready, offer your dog a piece. If you have multiple dogs, offer each dog a piece, changing the order each round.
Repeat: Continue feeding your dog tiny pieces of cheese that you peel off the string cheese stick until it's all gone.
Stay present: Focus on your dog's body language, imprinting those signs that suggest relaxation and happiness.
Observe and reflect: Notice what your dog's body language suggests they're feeling, and take a moment to notice how you feel in response to your dog's state.
Signal the end: Once all the cheese is gone, show your dog the empty wrapper. Stand up and take it to the trash can. This clear signal helps your dog understand that Cheese Time is over.
Regarding the frequency of feeding, it's crucial to understand that this is not an obedience "stay" exercise where you're deliberately trying to increase the time between food rewards. That's not the goal here. While part of the exercise reinforces your dog for sitting or lying in place, equally important is helping your dog feel happy and relaxed.
Feed cheese at a generous level that makes your dog think this is the best thing that's happened to them all day.
Ensure you're feeding enough that your dog doesn't get up or leave the room. If your dog is getting up, it suggests you're being too stingy and should feed more frequently. This might mean offering your dog a piece of cheese every few seconds for the first couple of times you play Cheese Time.
What Changes Once Cheese Time Becomes a Habit
As Cheese Time becomes habitual for you and your dog, you'll notice several positive changes. When you say "Cheese Time," your dog should perk up, perhaps get up and come to you, or excitedly meet you at the fridge or the spot where you typically play. Essentially, you'll have established a verbal cue that can immediately change the way your dog is feeling. If your dog is feeling uneasy for any reason, you now have a way to help shift their emotional state.
Your dog will likely become comfortable sitting or lying down for extended periods. They'll be happy to remain in place and feel relaxed while doing so. This is a valuable skill for everyday life with your dog. As your dog excels at Cheese Time, it becomes easier to implement it in situations where your dog might need extra help staying in position. For instance, you might decide to play Cheese Time when you have a visitor, helping your dog feel calm, settled, and relaxed around your guest.
Cheese Time also serves as a way to connect emotionally with your dog. This emotional connection is a crucial part of training and behavior modification. Training and behavior work is more effective if you enjoy your dog's company and want to spend time with them. Often, behavior problems can lead to difficult and negative emotions regarding our pets. Cheese Time helps combat that, setting you up for training success outside of formal Cheese Time sessions.
So, why not give Cheese Time a go? Here, I’m all about simple and easy-to-implement training protocols that make a big difference. While there are plenty of complicated, multi-tiered training plans to accomplish all sorts of goals, often the simplest and easiest approach is the one that's going to be most effective.
Cheese Time embodies this philosophy perfectly. It's straightforward, enjoyable for both you and your dog, and can yield significant results in terms of behavior and emotional well-being. By incorporating this simple routine into your daily life, you're not just training your dog – you're building a stronger relationship and creating a more relaxed, happy environment for both of you. With Cheese Time, you might just find that magical solution you've been looking for to help your dog relax, stay put, and have fun – all at the same time.
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