Down Time with the Pack

What you're seeing

A young Corgi mix who arrived fearful and insecure, wanting to avoid everything and everyone, lies quietly among the other dogs. She is tethered to one of Shawn's more confident and nurturing dogs. Around her, the whole pack is in the middle of its daily down-stay, which runs anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. Nothing is happening, and that is the whole lesson.

The problem this solves

A fearful dog does not need more redirecting, more toys, or more coaxing. It needs the ability to trust the leader(s). Owners usually try to comfort a scared dog, which tells the dog something is worth being scared of. What settles a dog like this is calm structure repeated every day until the nervous system catches up.

How it was trained

Tethering her to a steady dog gives her a model to copy and removes the option of running off to hide, which only feeds the fear. The daily down-stay does the rest: every dog lies down and stays until released, and the pack's calm becomes her calm–she learns from the energy among the other dogs in the group. This routine is the foundation of the off-leash obedience in our other videos. A solid down-stay is not only a way to create calm peace–it can be a life-saver.

Get this with your dog

The pack routine is part of every board and train stay, is very helpful, and is what makes it work for anxious dogs. Read Dog Anxiety: Calm Starts With Structure, or get your free phone consultation.