25/05/2026
The amount of 💩 dog training advice I see on social media is so mentally exhausting.
If you want to teach your dog to settle, you need to ask yourself:
1️⃣ Are my dogs biological needs met? Are they free from pain? Do they have a healthy diet? Do they have a safe place to sleep/settle?
2️⃣ Are my dogs emotional needs met? Do they feel secure? Are they able to make their own choices and are not being micromanaged?
3️⃣ Are my dogs social needs met? Do they have appropriate and sufficient (to them!) contact with people and other dogs?
4️⃣ Are my dogs enrichment needs met? Can they just be a dog? Do messy dog things? Do they have breed specific needs - can they search, herd, retrieve, hunt safely?
5️⃣ Have I used training, if necessary, to help my dog through any behaviours that are impacting their stress levels and ability to settle?
Dogs ABSOLUTELY should be able to settle without tethering. Puppies and adolescent dogs need more management, yes. We need to set their environment up for success to prevent the risk of them getting into "trouble" and make it as easy as possible for them to settle down.
But if your dog's needs haven't been met, you cannot expect them to settle. Tying them up and forcing them to cry it out, even if they have a comfy bed under them, is quite frankly abusive.
Dogs are sentient living beings. We need to stop treating them like robots that we can switch off when we feel like it.
If I'm working with a dog and they cannot settle, the first thing I will do is check what we can improve in their daily routine to make it easier for them to relax.
Tethering like this is cruel. It's unethical. It's abusive.
🚮 Any "trainer" that recommends it.
I'll post an expanded version of this post for my hub members (link in bio) to talk in detail about what specific things you can do to help your dog settle and what to do if they don't work.
But either way. Please don't do this.
