Off Switch

[Kootenay]

Jasper has an excellent off switch, always has. He sleeps happily any time, any where, even with days off of really doing anything. I didn't even crate train him when he was a puppy, he just didn't need it.

Yarrow has a nice off switch as well, he was a bit busier/more destructive as a pup, but he will chill out easily, again even with a day off (he's not quite as forgiving as Jasper though).

Onyx has a pretty decent off switch for a Malinois! I definitely fostered it when she was a puppy, but she naturally settles once we've done something. She can be really annoying in the morning before we've done anything though, she loves to chase the cat and she'll steal shoes (just bring them out into the living room, she doesn't chew them but I think it's her plea for attention...). If I have toys out, she will never stop pestering me to play, so basically all the toys in the house are only out when I'm playing with them. When we're out of the house, she has a bit of a harder time settling. Like at the beach, if we're staying late into the evening with a fire, she has big issues falling asleep like the other dogs, because there are sticks EVERYWHERE and it's like the best toy land ever.

 

[Lyzelle]

Zander currently has a fantastic off switch, in home and out of home. Occasionally he paces, like if we are in the kitchen and we've kicked him out so he is sulking and trying to find a way to get back in...but he does eventually always settle down. I honestly can't remember if he came with it or not, though. Part of me wants to say maturity and growing up with lazy Mastiffs, but I could be wrong.


Quinn is a work in progress. Once she has the idea to settle in a place, she settles. Until then, she will. not. stop. It took weeks for her to be able to settle down outside of her crate. Currently she is curled up behind my shoulders like a cat, snoring away. But if we were downstairs, she wouldn't turn "off". She would frantically and obsessively grab a chew toy. But I don't consider that "off", although it is a valiant effort on her part!

She is trying. I'm sure a few more months of maturity will help tons.

 

[Toller_08]

Dance: She's always been an exceptionally easy house dog. She does wander a bit and look for stuff to do sometimes, but she's quiet and just does her own thing or sleeps. I don't remember teaching her to be calm in the house.

Journey: Journey has also always settled well naturall. Lately at just over two she's been a little harder to live with though, but I think it's because we had a really busy, fun summer and now it's winter and gross and I don't want to do stuff/there isn't much of anything to do. It's dark early, and when it's not dark, it's too icey or way too cold (was thirty below here already). So she needs to get used to winter mode again. But she's still pretty good. Just tries playing with the other dogs more and as soon as I move, she leaps up like we're doing something super exciting. Poor girl. I hate winter. Thank goodness for trick training!

Ripley: Ripley was tethered to me most of his young life because he was obnoxious. Literally ALWAYS playing, running around, bugging the other dogs, sniffing obsessively... just doing anything but settle. He needed to be taught an off switch initially and then I think it just came naturally with maturity as well. Now he's really laid back. Still likes to do stuff, but is content to sleep or chew on something.

 

[amberdyan]

Hugo has a really good off-switch but that was after 4 months of pretty intense training. He was WILD in the house when we got him. He was 5 months and basically just jumped/ran/sprinted around the house. All. the. time. Now he settles or self entertains really easily. If we have a big group of friends over it takes him longer to settle but he'll still end up asleep in one of their laps.

Relaxation games are what really got it into his brain. We would pop up get amped up and then lay down and relax over and over. Eventually we played crazy flirt pole and then laid down and relaxed. I think he just needed serious impulse control. It was like he couldn't calm down for a long time after he got excited.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

Bubbles and Pen came with one, but I think that's because they were raised doing the show circuit thing - so either crated, ex-penned, walking on leash, or in the ring. They weren't neglected or anything, but just didn't have the "out of crate house time" until they came to live with me. They are both good about settling, though if they don't do something for like a day or so, they get antsy. Luckily they tired quickly, too!

Jari and Kimma are the worst. Kimma over the past year has finally seemed to have "gotten" it and can settle pretty good when I can't do anything with her. Jari OMG. Dude is nuts. He is finally at the point where he will sometimes sleep outside of his crate (inside the crate he's always been quiet and usually sleeps, so there's that), but ONLY after we do something. I'm thinking that in another year or so he will be pretty good though. So with both of them, we have worked hard on calm behavior in the house, and settling when nothing else is going on.

Outside of the home? Kimma MIGHT relax once we've run like at a trial or in class, and Bubbles and Pen are generally fine if someone is petting them. Jari's got nothing. Lots of mat work when we're out and about hahaha.

 

[HayleyMarie]

Both my dogs have a pretty good off switch, although Panzer can sometimes get super annoying if he has not gotten enough exercise, but both my dogs are pretty good at entertaining themselves if they get bored. Pan will grab a ball and start throwing it around, he really loves throwing it down the stairs and "fetching" it. And if you tell them to go relax they will.

Both dogs I think came with an off switch, but I defiantly helped bring it out more by highly praising playing by themselves and relaxing with a toy or a bone.

 

[cellardoor]

It's hard for me to untangle how much of Chalo's off switch is innate and how much is learned. I definitely spent a lot of time consciously rewarding calmness and impulse control from the beginning, but he also is just naturally a pretty mellow dude.

His on switch has been trickier to find, but I kind of appreciate that. I enjoy having a dog that needs to be revved up, rather than one I need to rein in.

 

[houlahoops]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

(*hysterical sobbing*)

 

[Melle]

Nina came with an indoor off-switch. I don't even remember her being particularly annoying when she wasn't exercised for a day or even two. She had energy to boot when it was appropriate, but yeah. I mean when she wanted to play or got up after a nap or something she'd find her squeaky toy and bump it into my leg or play fetch with herself but the only time I used "Go Sit Down" was when she was begging for attention and I was too busy.

I don't think I could own a dog that I had to teach to just chill out for a little while. I hope my next dog is like her.

 

[Annabell]

I would say Fable came to me with a really good off-switch. After being exercised, she will just lay down on her chair or cuddle with me. Even if she hasn't had exercise, she will go and chew on a Nylabone or sometimes she still just falls asleep. She really turns on when we go biking, but if we are just going for our daily walk, she is fairly settled. Fable also settles really well when I take her to outside places like cafés or restaurants. I love that about her because that means I get to take her so many more places with me.

 

[thehoundgirl]

Buster doesn't really have an ON switch. :rofl1: He's so lazy. He's been lazy since a pup so it's just typical for him to be lazy.

Rudy well he can be playful but also really mellow. He certainly has an off switch for being a terror.. um terrier. :rofl1:

Dixie I would say yes she has an off switch. But, when she's outside all she wants to do is play lol. She is really calm in the house.

Archer my brother's dog definitely has an off switch but he likes to play inside and outside. He is usually only calm when he takes power naps.

 

[monkeys23]

As long as Lily has had her daily mileage, she is good. If not she starts having husky zoomies and chasing her tail and digging to china like a total nutbar. :rofl1:

Scout has a good off switch. I'm sure she was nuts as a puppy, but she's super duper chill unless its go time then the leaping, body slamming, and awful bear dog noises start.

My parent's dog has a really good off switch for a BC. He'll get up and follow you if you move, but unless you touch or walk by the ATV he is super mellow.

I had to teach my foster dog a few years back the cue "settle in." Crazy little dude would just pace and pace otherwise. He lives with people who jog and he does agility, so all that was really easy for them to finish working on the off switch. He wouldn't have been happy in a couch potato home, lol.

 

[Southpaw]

You know what's funny, and I wonder if anyone elses dogs are like this, is mine are fantastic for pretty much the entire day. Until we get to right before bedtime. Around 8/9 they all start getting super annoying. Playing like crazy, barking, wrestling, getting into things.

But they all sleep like angels as soon as I got to my room and they get on the bed. Then they don't move. Drives me NUTS before hand though.

That's the time of day that my guys are DEAD.

Cajun's a little active right now since I just got home from work. But generally there's like no activity in this house after 7pm lol.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Ummm I wouldn't say Jackson was ever terrible but his off switch has certainly gotten better over the years. When he was younger, like under 2, he was certainly a lot more busy if under-exercised or stimulated. But the past few years, he's gotten relatively good at just laying around when he has to, even if he hasn't gotten a lot of good exercise in. He's always been decent at going and laying down when necessary, like it's not like he ever paced around, or did circles, or *couldn't* sit down or anything. He just was a bit more needy, I guess, when he was younger.

 

[JacksonsMom]

That's the time of day that my guys are DEAD.

Cajun's a little active right now since I just got home from work. But generally there's like no activity in this house after 7pm lol.

Jackson is usually perfectly fine to lay around all day until around 3-4pm. THEN he starts bugging if he hasn't done anything yet lol. Now with the new puppy, they typically wake up to play around noon (when I'm home) and do a 30 min play session, and then later on in the evening again around 6-7pm, then they crash for the night.

 

[meepitsmeagan]

The only reason I ended up with Harlow is because of her brother's fabulous off-switch in the house. He was a huge couch potato, even at 2 years old. Very natural for her entire line, so it seems. She was always naturally just very chill in the house or would self entertain.

Rider can be a pacer and harbors a lot of anxiety, however; he is pretty good now. It took a little work, and sometimes he still slips into old habits, but overall he is 100% better.

Tulsa. HA! Uhh, yeah. It's trying. She's great for her breed, but she's just so gogogo and this semester has not been generous for serious exercise time. We've been doing tons of training, but no real regular physical exercise. She will settle on cue, but it isn't natural yet. But, 7 months old. She is mainly just a toy hopper, which I'm ok with for now.

However, I will say that for sleeping 18-20 hours out of the day, my dogs are awesome. I know a lot of dogs who couldn't handle one person of the household on a first/second shift schedule and one on a third shift schedule.

 

[Laurelin]

Hank is really awful tonight after I bragged on him.

 

[Southpaw]

Hank is really awful tonight after I bragged on him.

lol it also took Cajun an uncharacteristically long time to settle down tonight

 

[Fran101]

I don't know if he's always had one or if he was forced to develop one but...I got Merlin in the MIDDLE of winter (in one of the worst snowy winters ever to see Boston) and in the middle of my senior year.

I was busy, I lived in a 270 sq foot studio, it was freezing....he learned how to settle down and settle down FAST and for a long time :rofl1:

To this day, if you stop moving...Merlin will be asleep somewhere near you in less than 5 minutes.

 

[busannie]

Annie has no off switch. As a younger dog, I could direct her to settle and she would, but not on her own, and now as a mostly deaf, slightly senile old dog, she only settles when she's sleeping, or physically placed somewhere she can't easily move around. Otherwise, it's non-stop pacing, foraging, and getting underfoot, especially before her feeding (after which she goes into food coma for a while, yay!). She was a forager even as a young dog, always either harassing people with toys to throw or sniffing around for food.

Bus is blessedly quiet in the house, unless people come/there's increased activity, or you're encouraging him to get crazy, in which case he does no problem. He frequently puts himself in one of the dog beds and just chills. Outside he can't control himself, if I tie him, he digs and barks, if he's running free, he's in the water, digging, eating stuff in the yard, dragging out toys/other items, etc. Funny though, if he's on leash with me somewhere, and we're standing still (like if I'm talking to someone, or we're at an event of some sort), he goes into "wait" mode, where he lays down like a sphinx, patiently waiting for indication that we're moving on. People frequently comment on how "relaxed" he is when we're standing and I'm talking to them, when he's really like a coiled spring, waiting for a cue to go again.

I really like that Bus settles on his own when we're inside, but never minded Annie's constant activity, until it became more aimless pacing than just active dog activity.