If there’s one thing that I get complimented on with my dogs, more than anything, it’s their calmness in the home – particularly their speed of settling in my absence. They’re famed for relaxing at the drop of a hat and snoring the day away when I can’t be around and am not working from home – and people are forever patting me on the back and saying “I don’t know how you do it, mate”.

About a decade ago, I was acting quite instinctively as an owner and so I couldn’t accept the compliments – I wasn’t doing anything… I just picked the right breed. Now, obviously, breed plays a massive part in this; some dogs are less sociable than others; some work more independently than others; some need less steam burning off than others… but as the years pressed on, it became clear that I was doing more than just picking chilled dogs. So, I dug a little deeper, became a little more conscious, a little more deliberate, a little more precise – and things just got better and better.

Off the back of this, and through observation of hundreds of dogs and their owners, I developed a system for ensuring well-settled dogs, particularly when they’re being left alone. I called it the SUCCESS protocol… and (how convenient!) it turns out that’s an acronym – a helpful mnemonic to make it memorable. SUCCESS stands for: Starting, Uneventing, Conditioning, Capturing, Exiting, Surveilling and Sugarcoating. In this post, I’m going to explain each part of the protocol – both in terms of how I discovered it (typically by accident), and how to do it, now deliberately. 

Before we begin, bear in mind that we are not depending a great deal on Operant Conditioning, here, and we won’t be putting anything on a cue. This is less the realm of trainers than that of behaviourists, and we will be capitalising mostly on Classical Conditioning, using our dog’s natural undulating states of calm and activity, and manipulating our environment more than the dog itself. Because it’s not a mechanical step-by-step, this will take a bit of time to describe and longer to apply.

So, let’s go.

S = Starting 

Apart from it coming first chronologically, this one has to be first in terms of importance: it’s the first thing we address because it lays the foundation for everything else. 

So what is Starting? Starting, in this system, simply refers to the atmosphere we create before we begin any kind of intervention. The biggest mistake that most people make with teaching a dog calmness is beginning in a state of arousal – the dog is alert and energetic and the owners are on their feet. Stop that. Begin the process when your dog is already calm: after a walk; or after feeding; maybe when the TV and the candles are on in the evening. Accordingly, don’t bother starting before the dog has been exercised or trained; don’t start when they’re excited to eat; don’t do it when everyone’s on their feet and getting animated – this is arousal territory and not conducive to calm. It should be clear to your dog that indoors is a place for relaxing (especially in a certain room, where they will be left – in or out of a crate, based on your dog’s needs and your preferences). Do all your play and exercise outside; do all your training and feeding in a different location from this one. 

It’s very much like the advice I try to give to university students: if you do your studying in your bed, just “because you can”, you’ll start losing sleep at night. You’ll be confusing your whole system about whether it should be active or semi-dormant in this location – that’s a basic of Classical Conditioning. Compartmentalisation is the name of the game, here. You can be the most animated and demonstrative person out and about, but you should become a zen master as soon as you cross the threshold into the target room, to lead by example – and ideally as soon as you arrive in the house. My serendipitous discovery of this foundation came about from my exhausting job, back in the day; I’d get home and slump; I’d take the dogs out and then slump again; I’d slump in the evenings in my wind-down hour before bed. Apart from anything else, I didn’t actively interact with my dogs until we’d all settled down upon returning home, because my twenty-something bones ached (and I’m rolling my eyes hard, now, at my belief that THAT’S what fatigue felt like, believe me!). For guaranteed calmness, take advantage of your dog’s pre-bed slump, if they have one – my Jackson wouldn’t stir for a whole roast chicken after about 9PM, so that’s where I do my best work with him in building on settling behaviours.

That foundation of calm leads nicely onto… 

U for “Uneventing”

Now, everyone and their mums will tell you about the importance of making your comings-and-goings as low-key as possible – and this is correct – but only part of the puzzle. We don’t want to create a state of arousal around our departures to stoke the fires of anxiety, nor do we want to hype up our return like it’s the only good thing in the world. But, for many sensitive and vigilant dogs, the arousal begins way before we step out of the door, so we need to start “uneventing” the triggers – everything from standing up, to putting shoes or outdoor clothing on, to picking up the keys, to turning off the TV or the lights, and whatever else is part of your departure routine. It’s good practice to do all these things as often as you can in the early days, to transform these triggers for arousal into “unevents”. Perform the behaviour, then sit down again for as long as it takes to re-establish calm. This bit takes time; so, take some time off work when you first get your dog (which is good practice anyway) and dedicate several hours of your weekends to it.

Also, I hate to say it, because it’s pretty adorable when they do, but try to teach your dog NOT to follow you as you go about your business at home. If you’re moving into another room for the rest of the evening, then obviously let them join you, but if you’re just nipping to the toilet, or to draw the curtains, or making a cup of tea, then don’t encourage them to join you. Make it as boring as possible and ignore them if they get up to follow, repeating these little flitting procedures as often as you can until your dog realises that there’s nothing to be getting up for and that, on balance, maybe remaining in the comfy snoozing spot is actually better for them. One of the most valuable things you can do is to teach your dog that “coexisting” is what constitutes the bulk of their time with you, not interacting. It might sound a little heartless, but I can assure you that if a dog’s needs have been met, then working them into a state of arousal through constant interaction, with playtime and fuss, is really not in their best interests. Indeed, if you observe dogs on their own, they spend a good ninety per cent of their downtime together not interacting, but just sharing the space – and certainly not getting up to investigate each other’s antics when happily reposing. I discovered this one by accident when one of my dogs had an injury on his tail and it was so uncomfortable to heave himself up that he stopped bothering – and found, to the surprise of both of us I think, that he became progressively calmer about my absence, and it stuck after he’d healed. I’d laid a foundation for calm and my day-to-day movements had become perceived as uneventful enough to ignore.

Okay, so now we have laid the foundations for a calm home, we can start to work on making it clear to our dogs – the two Cs of SUCCESS. 

So, let’s roll with our first C:

C, for “Conditioning”

Obviously, this is all Conditioning. We’ve already started conditioning the indoors and the dog’s relaxation spot, but I think we can do better than that, in terms of specificity and clarity. If we can get it tied to specific conditions and anchors, then we can effectively “switch the calm on” when we need it – AND we can make it portable! So, how can we take this state of calm and link it to an anchor? Well, my favourite way is by adding a well-timed small blanket or pillow (mostly because they’re portable) – though I rather embarrassingly came across it accidentally via an air purifier and a large rug. My current dog, as a livestock guardian, would often bark at night when he heard even minor disturbances outside, keeping everyone awake at night, including the neighbours. So, I introduced an air purifier to the living room, which doubled as a white noise generator, drowning out the background noise and effectively managing this behaviour, allowing everyone to sleep better. I later discovered that I could recreate his bedtime calmness and deep sleep by turning on the white noise before leaving the house in the daytime, and that he would place himself on the same bit of carpet in these absences. Even later, I discovered that I could haul that machine and rug to holiday destinations and he would settle like he was at home!

So, instead of getting screwed over by dependence on two excessively large anchors like I did, I’d recommend a small blanket or pillow. All you need to do is leave the pillow or blanket with your dog whenever it is nicely settled for long periods of time, and then take it away as soon as the settled time is up. It will soon start to gather smell, but don’t wash it, because that’s the point. It’s a lot like a human baby’s comfort blanket. “Blanky” doesn’t have any magical properties; it’s just an innately comforting thing that has come to be associated with calmness and security through Classical Conditioning, doubling its comfort. You can also introduce sound, via the radio or TV, or a desk fan, so that as many senses as possible are involved – touch, smell, sight and hearing – just to increase clarity. 

Now, I know it sounds like this is coming quite late in the process for such a key element, but remember that creating a calm and uneventful atmosphere is an ongoing thing, and the anchor can be introduced at literally any point at which you feel like your dog is as settled as you’d like them to be in your absence. You can introduce the anchor as early as day one, at bedtime, if your dog sleeps through the night, as long as you can take it away prior to the morning zoomies kicking in. Indeed, timing is really important here. Make sure the anchor arrives quickly, but surreptitiously, at the point of deep relaxation, and is removed as soon as that state is broken. Clarity is what we’re trying to achieve now that we’ve got our state of calm.

And, on the subject of clarity, we have the second C of SUCCESS… 

C = “Capturing”

Now, Capturing is very much in the realm of training terminology, but that doesn’t mean we need to turn this into an engaging, up-tempo obedience session. All we’re doing, here, is making a link for our dog between the relaxed state, the anchor, and some form of additional reinforcement from us. Now, the key with this is to “capture” the desired behaviour while it’s happening and reward it, sporadically, without issuing so great a reinforcer that you create undesirable excitement. Because of this, I don’t tend to recommend verbal of physical praise, here, unless it is extremely gentle and doesn’t get the dog aroused (and that’s something only you will know). The same goes for high value treats (and, very obviously, toys). The best thing I’ve found for introducing, here, is plain old kibble. Inherently reinforcing but not disruptively thrilling.

So, what you do is, when you’ve got a calm state around your anchor, just fully secure this as a good state of being for your dog by dropping a couple of pieces of kibble an inch from its nose – close enough that they don’t have to get up to manoeuvre their faces into eating it. Don’t interact, don’t stay; just gently sprinkle and move away. I stumbled across this method when trying to teach an elderly dog not to get up when it was unnecessary, to prevent slipping on the hardwood floor she liked to lie on to keep cool. Now, if even kibble is too exciting and causes your dog to get up prematurely, you may be limited to your reward marker, delivered soothingly: “yesssssssss”, “goooooood boyyyyyy”. (Note, in typical Capturing, you would then put the behaviour on a cue, but we don’t want to make this into “training” – that’s too active.) And in some cases, even that will be too disruptive to the state of calm. Sometimes, you’ve got to just let the calm do its thing and be self-rewarding – and just sit back and hope there’s enough clarity.

While we’re here, it’s worth mentioning that some of the stages of SUCCESS are going surplus to requirements for some dogs – but I include all of them to ensure the utmost clarity. We’re really trying to hammer home that being relaxed and non-interactive is a lovely thing. If your dog gets it simply through the self-reinforcing pleasure of being at rest in their chill spot after heavy exertion, then great. If your dog gets it through the introduction of a soothing stimulus via the anchor – a cosy blanket – then that’s good too. I tend to own quite sensitive, quite slow-learning dogs, so I like to be as thorough as possible. 

But, just to be clear: the clarity is what’s important, not the process.

Now, we’re finally at the E we might’ve started with, if we were less wise: “Exiting”.

E = Exiting

So, if we’ve laid the foundation as we should, then exiting should be the easiest part of all of this. We make sure we’ve exercised and/or fed our dog, and they’ve begun to wind down in the calm atmosphere of the house. Then, we proof our work so far by leaving the house. To mark the beginning of a zen state, we deliver the anchor of calm: our “blanky” and the radio or whatever sound you may or may not include. 

At this point, we leave, quietly, undramatically, and will most likely find that our dog has already taken itself to its chill spot to snooze until our return. Now, obviously, we don’t leave for ten hours and hope for the best. We build up our time away, based on the feedback we’re getting on our work so far.

That brings us nicely to the first S of SUCCESS: 

S = “Surveilling”

So, we’re out of the house, looking to see how we’ve done. Obviously, if we’ve been methodical, it’s likely that we’re confident – and we’ve probably already seen the method working well when we move to a different room and the zen is unbroken. But this is the real test, because we’ve left the building, and the only way of really assessing our dog’s reaction is by installing a WiFi camera to watch our dog from our phone while we’re out. Dogs are far more vigilant than us, so don’t kid yourself into thinking you can sneak a peek through the window without them noticing. WiFi security cameras are usually very affordable and are such a worthwhile investment. I’ve had them in my home for at least the last decade. 

This is the feedback stage, so pay close attention to your dog’s body language. Early on in the process, it’s likely your dog will try to watch you leave, or maybe make a little noise, as the stakes have been lifted, but you’ll then probably see them take themselves to their settling spot within about ten minutes of your departure. Over time, the latency will shrink, and you’ll be in a position like me, where it’s more like ten seconds. If you set up notifications from your camera for sound and motion, you’ll be able to observe in your absence what gets your dog up again. Is it loneliness or boredom and they’re not settling again? Then perhaps that’s the current time limit and you should head back home, building up your absence over time. Is it alertness to a knock at the door or the phone ringing? Watch to see if your dog re-settles and determine whether you’re good to carry on with your business out of the house.

When I first got Bonnie the Cane Corso, like a decade ago, I worked hard to give her structure and a calm home that she would be happy to rest in – but I was naturally quite worried about returning to work and leaving her all alone. I lived two minutes from work at that point, so I was ready to check in on her throughout the day, but I did also set up the camera for the interim periods. It turned out that she got up off her sofa a grand total of once on that first day on her own: to do a lap of the coffee table and find a new sleeping position on the sofa. Safe to say, I thought, she’s going to be fine! 

Now, everything you see on the camera is data and lets you know just how much more work you need to do. If you’re lucky, you’ll only need to repeat your exit strategy from now on. 

But, finally, as an optional reinforcer to really make your ABSENCE a thing of pleasure and not just being calm in the home, you can introduce the final S of SUCCESS: 

S = “Sugarcoating”

So, this is a stage that’s often positioned too early, in my opinion. It’s one of the most popular pieces of advice out there regarding the management of separation anxiety, but when taken out of context, introduced without the foundation, it’s not going to do jack. Lots of owners of anxious or pre-anxious dogs will leave their overwrought dogs with a delicious bone or frozen Kong and wonder why it’s still there, melting into an ugly puddle next to their unhappy dog, when they get home. Calmness in the home and neutrality around your absence needs to come first with anxious dogs – particularly because excitement and anxiety are physiologically almost identical, meaning that they can often leak into one another as emotions dictate.

So, if we have calmness as a foundation, and introduce something wonderful, we can create a brand new emotion: bliss. Bliss, for me, is a pleasurable and tranquil state of being – like the kind you get when you sink into a hot bath at the end of a cold game of football. We’re not looking for exuberance or excitement, here, just bliss. So, this is when we can mark our departure with the delivery of the most prized of pleasures: a juicy bone, a filled toy, a lickimat – anything in that general category. The treat should be long-lasting and promote calmness through chewing and licking behaviours, which are best performed lying down. This is usually quite a fatiguing, but low-stress kind of exertion, promoting additional feelings of calm thereafter.

So, there you have it: seven steps to SUCCESS with leaving your dog calm at home. Just remember, though: if your dog has not found biological fulfilment – both as a dog and as a representative of its breed or type – then there’s no amount of calming you can do to compensate for leaking drives. So, as always, I remind you to work your dogs and to be BREED SAVVY, giving your dog the most fulfilled life you possibly can.