The Power of Stillness

It is easier for your dog to master movement and active commands than it is to master stillness, duration, and holding a command.  It might be counterintuitive, but when it comes to addressing the state of mind, your dog actually gets more training benefit from holding a command than from action.

While purpose driven movement does wonders for decompressing nervous energy and coping with stress in the moment, true rehabilitation requires our dog to learn how to slow down, relax, and observe rather than needing movement to cope with being uncomfortable.

In the advanced stages of the rehabilitation process our dog must draw from the confidence we built through the active commands.  He must practice the impulse control skills he mastered through the structured routine.  He must exercise the trust in our leadership we engendered by being cognizant of the affection.  He must respect the leadership we established during the relationship building process.  When our dog has done this, then under our guidance, he is ready to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Your dog needs to learn how to hold commands and be still no matter what’s going on around him. To learn more about how we introduce the challenge of duration into the training process, check out our instructional playlist on YouTube.  Our verbal marker system of Yes, Good, and Nope is the foundational key to mastering stillness.