How to teach a dog to settle in a cafe?
Macey Hagenes
2025-07-22 13:58:15
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Teaching your dog to settle on a mat is another thing to teach your dog before you hit the pub. Choose a nice, foldable, easily portable mat for this. I find that microfibre towels are great. They’re small and light and not at all onerous to carry in your rucksack while walking. You can “shape” a nice settle at home. Lay the mat on the ground and reward your pet every time he or she steps on it. Once they work out that “mat = good” you can ask them to have all 4 paws on the mat before they get their reward, As time goes on, develop 4 paws into a “sit”, then into a “down” and then start extending the amount of time they are laying down before the reward appears. Dogs learn quickly. It won’t be long until they are happily lying on the mat and snoozing at home. It’s very easy to then ask for the same behaviour in a different place - the garden, the coffee shop, the pub….. Take a walk first - that way your dog can get the twinkle out of his toes, go to the toilet and have a good old sniff around to wear his or her brain out. Go straight to your seat in the pub - walking confidently and not stopping to faff about or chat. Spread out the settle mat, reassure your pet without getting them all excited, present them with the chewy bone/distraction toy and then relax and enjoy the whole experience.
Alex Wolf
2025-07-22 13:24:46
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To help you and your dog learn basic training techniques, it might be worth enrolling in some dog training lessons.
It’s hard for your dog to learn how to settle when there are distractions, so it’s best to begin practicing somewhere quiet.
Sit quietly on a chair with your dog on the lead and a blanket on the floor.
Drop tiny bite-size treats to your dog as a reward for settling down on the blanket.
Once your dog starts to get the hang of it and is shifting their weight so they’re comfortable and relaxed, you can start practising with them off lead.
You need your dog to learn that they can settle whether they’re on or off-lead – useful skills for a lot of different situations.
Add in distractions slowly by practising the ‘settle’ in increasingly busy areas or ask a helper to create a distraction by walking past, progressing to more exciting activities like sweeping or skipping.
If your dog becomes unsettled or gets up, ignore them and wait until they settle again before rewarding them.
Try to resist telling your dog what to do during training, the aim is for them to learn for themselves to be calm and to relax.
Try training in different locations with more distractions.
Isabella Little
2025-07-22 10:45:47
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You wouldn’t expect your dog to learn to sit, roll over or shake hands without a good grounding of training, and so the same goes for asking them to settle in the pub when you’re on holiday. Until they’ve learned that lying down quietly is the way to get rewards, they’re likely to keep pestering you or others around you for attention. At home, before you even brave a pub garden or a café terrace, get your dog used to lying at your feet around a dining table by asking them to do exactly that: stick their lead and collar or harness on, give them the down command while you sit at your table, and occasionally reward their passive behaviour from a stash of treats in your pocket. Reward fairly regularly to begin with, but gradually lengthen the gaps between rewards until you can go for several minutes without a nose nudge or a fidgeting dog. If you notice them disengaging from you (such as looking away, or resting their head on the floor) during these gaps, reward this too, as they’ll begin to learn that they needn’t keep all their attention on you. Once you’ve mastered this at home, it’s time to take it into the wild – head out alone so you can focus on the training and don’t order anything too involved, you’ll want to be able to keep one eye on the dog at all times while they’re still learning.
Tiara Donnelly
2025-07-22 08:47:46
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I think the most important thing we need to remember about taking our dogs out and about is that it probably isn’t as much fun for them as it is for us. Because coffee shops can be busy or quite boring places for dogs, we need to teach them that there are rewards for good behaviour in these situations. I normally suggest to clients that they teach their dog to settle on a small mat that they can then fold up and take with them to the coffee shop. By teaching the dog to settle on this mat in an easy environment, such as their lounge, we can then transfer that behaviour to the coffee shop. Use a pillow case or a small blanket, you don’t want to be carrying your dog’s throne around with you. Give your dog something to do when they are in the coffee shop. Start simple and easy, pick a quieter time and be prepared. If your dog can’t cope at this point set up a little café at home and practice there before you venture out and about.