Post by @junothedeal

The dogs that sit calmly on a patio while you eat didn’t grow out of being excitable. Someone taught them. One of the most overlooked skills in dog training is learning that not every environment is there to interact with. What we did 👇 Juno reacted to everything. Bikes, strangers, dogs across the street. We kept trying to walk him past it faster, which did nothing. So we started stopping instead. Find a bench, a log, a grassy patch. Sit down. Watch the world together. No commands. We just paid him for every sigh, every loose body, every glance back at us. Every moment he picked calm over chaos. What happened A few weeks in, he stopped caring. Not because we trained the reaction out of him, but because none of it was new anymore. A bike going past stopped being an event. The logic A dog that reacts to everything is usually a dog that finds everything new. Walking past something quickly never gives them the chance to process it, so it stays exciting every single time. Sitting still lets them take it in without having to do anything about it. Calmness is a behaviour. Behaviours can be practised. Try it on your next walk.