Teaching Your Dog to Settle: Mat Training and a Relaxation Cue

In brief

Many dogs learn sit, down and recall, but hardly any are explicitly taught how to settle. Yet rest isn’t idle time. Four things matter. First: in an EEG study, dogs performed better on newly learned cues after a period of sleep, and learning changed the sleep that followed. Second: what happens before sleep can change sleep; after an unpleasant social experience, dogs slept differently than after a pleasant one. Third: more exercise doesn’t automatically mean more calm; play and scent work activate the body at first. Fourth: calm petting was associated in studies with a falling heart rate and signs of relaxation, but holding still on its own is not a reliable sign that a dog is relaxed.

This guide shows why rest matters for learning and behavior, how to teach your dog step by step to switch off on his mat, how to build a relaxation cue, and how to tell real relaxation from merely enduring. There is no study that examines mat training itself. The training steps are therefore marked as practical experience.

1. Why rest matters so much

1.1 Sleep and learning

Kis, Szakadát et al. (2017) taught dogs new cues and then recorded their sleep with a non-invasive EEG. After the roughly three-hour recording, performance on the new cues was clearly better than before. Learning also changed the sleep that followed, and certain features of the sleep EEG were related to how much a dog improved. How long a dog slept within that time window, on the other hand, was not related to the improvement. The sample was small: eleven dogs were included in the EEG analysis and fifteen in the behavioral comparison.

Still, it isn’t quite as simple as “sleep right after training.” In a study of sixteen Labrador Retrievers, dogs that played for thirty minutes after learning did better at relearning the task the next day than dogs that rested after learning (Affenzeller et al., 2017). The two findings fit together as long as you don’t stretch them: the time after learning matters, and rest and sleep are part of what happens during that time. No fixed rule about the right order can be derived from them.

👉 Sleep and learning in dogs

1.2 What happens before sleep matters

Kis, Gergely et al. (2017) had family dogs experience either a pleasant social situation (petting and ball play) or an unpleasant one (a short separation, a threatening approach and a person who didn’t respond) before an observed nap. After the unpleasant experience, the dogs fell asleep faster, spent less time drowsy and more time in REM sleep. The study doesn’t show which kind of sleep is “better.” It does show that the events of a day can carry over into sleep.

In practice: a calm transition into rest is therefore more than a cosmetic detail. If you simply close the door after a wild play session or an encounter that got your dog worked up, you leave him alone with his excitement. A few minutes of sniffing on leash, a chew or calm petting on the mat help many dogs shift gears.

1.3 Overtired and wound up

Many owners know the dog that gets wilder in the evening instead of falling asleep. Carreiro et al. (2023) recorded sleep EEG in family dogs in the lab and compared it with a questionnaire in which owners rated hyperactivity and impulsivity. Dogs with higher scores had lower sleep efficiency and stayed awake longer after first dozing off. This is an association. Whether poor sleep makes dogs restless, whether restless dogs sleep worse, or whether both share a common cause can’t be determined from it.

In practice: in many dogs, overtiredness doesn’t show up as tiredness but as getting wound up: they bite at pant legs, bark, race through the house or can’t let go of a stimulus. Especially with puppies and young dogs, it pays not to offer even more activity at that point, but a calm environment and a fixed resting place.

👉 Arousal regulation in dogs

1.4 How much rest does a dog need?

There is no fixed number. In a large UK longitudinal study, owners described their dogs’ sleep behavior at 16 weeks (2,332 dogs) and at twelve months (1,091 dogs). According to their owners, puppies slept longer during the day and over the whole 24 hours, but less at night than the one-year-old dogs. Of the dogs that had access to people at night, almost 87 percent at both ages chose to sleep near them (Kinsman et al., 2020). These are owner reports, not measurements. But they are a good indication that many dogs seek rest close to their people.

2. Exercise isn’t the same as rest

A common piece of advice goes: a tired dog is a calm dog. There is something to that, but the mechanism is simpler in the saying than in reality. In the study by Affenzeller et al. (2017), average heart rate during a thirty-minute play session was 143 beats per minute, compared with 86 in resting dogs. Fountain et al. (2026) compared scent work with a walking control condition in 21 family dogs. Heart rate rose in both conditions and was highest during targeted searching. The dogs showed no stress-related behavior during the task, and afterwards heart rate did not differ between the search and control conditions.

In other words: scent work, too, is activity first and not a sedative. That isn’t an argument against exercise, play or sniffing, but an argument against expecting calm to come from exercise alone. Rest is also something a dog can learn.

In practice: dogs that get a full program every day often get used to it and demand it. A day with less on the schedule is then not a rest day for them but a disappointment. A balanced alternation of activity and practiced rest is often more helpful in practice than ever more activity.

👉 Exercise and behavior in dogs

3. Mat training step by step

In mat training, your dog learns that a particular mat is a place where nothing is asked of him and where calm pays off. It isn’t about the longest possible down-stay but about a state: the dog lies down, lets go and, ideally, dozes off. There is no study that tests exactly this approach. The following steps are one possible practical approach from training.

3.1 The right mat

In practice: choose a blanket or mat that is big enough for your dog to lie stretched out on, doesn’t slip and is easy to take along. At least at the beginning, it should be used only for settle training. That way it gradually becomes a cue in itself: wherever this mat is, it’s break time.

3.2 Capture calm instead of commanding a down

In practice: put the mat on the floor on a quiet evening, sit down next to it and wait. Calmly reward every movement toward the mat: first a glance, then a step, then one paw on it, then all four. If your dog eventually lies down on his own, calmly place a treat between his front paws. The pace of your reward matters: slow, without excitement, ideally placed directly on the mat. A hastily tossed treat invites him to jump up.

In practice: don’t just reward lying down, reward above all what comes after it: the hip rolling to one side, the head coming to rest on the paws, a deep exhale. These are exactly the signs you want to see more often.

3.3 Building duration

In practice: at first, reward at short intervals, about every few seconds. Gradually make the intervals longer and less predictable. Once your dog reliably stays lying for a while, you can offer him a chew or a lick mat on the mat. Calm chewing and licking help many dogs wind down. Stop while your dog is still lying there relaxed, not only once he gets up on his own.

3.4 Distance

In practice: only once your dog lies calmly next to you, take one step away, come back and reward. Then two steps, then a trip to the kitchen. If he follows you, you went too fast. It’s not a mistake if he gets up; you simply take a smaller step.

👉 Teaching your dog to be home alone

3.5 Distractions

In practice: add distractions one at a time and in small doses: you stand up, you take a glass out of the cupboard, someone rings the doorbell, a child plays in the room. If a distraction was too much, go back a step in the next session. Many dogs need more time for movement in the room than for sounds.

3.6 New places

In practice: what a dog has learned in the living room he can’t automatically do in a café or a vacation rental. Take the mat into other rooms first, then into the yard, then to quiet places when you’re out. In every new place, start again with shorter times and more reward. Over time, the mat becomes a piece of home you can take with you.

3.7 A clear end

In practice: give your dog a release cue, for example “Done,” so he knows when the rest period is over. At first, he may leave the mat at any time, and you simply reward staying more. A cue for going to the mat only comes later. If he stays lying longer than you expected and falls asleep, that’s the best result you could wish for.

4. The relaxation cue

4.1 The idea

A relaxation cue is meant to develop through classical conditioning: a word, a scent or a particular touch is given again and again in moments when the dog is already relaxed. Over time, the cue itself is meant to trigger part of that relaxation. An honest assessment matters here: we have not found a peer-reviewed study that has tested such a conditioned relaxation cue in dogs. The idea is based on the general principles of classical conditioning and on practical experience.

4.2 What touch can do

The question of how dogs respond to calm touch has been studied somewhat better. Kuhne et al. (2014) had 28 family dogs experience nine different forms of physical contact while recording behavior and cardiac measures. Petting on the chest was associated with increased vagal tone, an indication of activity in the part of the nervous system associated with rest and recovery. Contact in the head area showed a different pattern.

McGowan et al. (2018) had an unfamiliar person calmly pet and talk to each of 55 shelter dogs for fifteen minutes. Between the first and the last minutes of the session, heart rate fell, heart rate variability rose, and the dogs stood less and solicited contact less. Salivary cortisol did not change. Because the beginning and end of the same session were compared, it can’t be separated how much of this was due to the petting and how much to getting used to the room and the person.

👉 Touch and petting in dogs

4.3 How to build it

In practice: choose a calm word that doesn’t otherwise come up in everyday life, for example “Easy” or “Shhh,” and say it softly and drawn out. Give it only when your dog is already lying relaxed, for instance in the evening on his mat or just before he falls asleep. Follow it directly with a calm, slow touch, such as long strokes over the chest or flank or a gentle massage with a flat hand. Watch whether your dog leans into it or moves away. If he moves away, stop.

In practice: repeat this over several weeks in many short moments. During this time, never use the cue in exciting situations. Only once you notice that your dog visibly softens at the word can you carefully try it in somewhat more demanding situations, for example with visitors who have already been there for a while.

4.4 What the cue can’t do

In practice: a relaxation cue is not a switch that shuts a dog down in the middle of fear or high excitement. If it is used in such situations too early, the dog associates the word with exactly those states, and it loses its effect. It works best as an aid during the transition, when your dog is on his way to calm but still needs a small nudge.

5. Real relaxation or just enduring?

A dog lying still isn’t automatically relaxed. Hart and Hart (2026) observed dogs across different phases of grooming and found falling heart-rate variability alongside increasing behavioral suppression. So far, the paper is only available as a preliminary online version (Journal Pre-proof). It concerns grooming rather than mat training and can therefore only be used as a cautionary indication: lying still by itself is not reliable evidence of relaxation.

In practice: these signs point more toward real relaxation:

• The body softens: the hip rolls to one side, the dog lies on his side or curls up.
• The head comes to rest: on the paws, on the mat or on your foot.
• Breathing slows down, often with a deep sigh.
• The eyes get heavy or close, the ears are loose.

In practice: these signs point more toward enduring:

• The dog lies tense like a sphinx, weight on his elbows, ready to spring up.
• The eyes follow every movement, the gaze is fixed or the whites of the eyes are visible.
• Panting without heat, lip licking, yawning or trembling.
• The dog jumps up immediately as soon as you give the release cue, as if he had only been waiting for it.

6. What to avoid

A dog can also be kept on the mat with pressure: you send him back again and again until he stays lying down. In the moment, that works. The question is what he learns from it, and at what cost. A dog that stays down under pressure is more likely to learn to endure than to switch off, and the mat becomes a place where he has to put up with something. The observation by Hart and Hart (2026) fits with this, in that pronounced holding still was associated with strain rather than relaxation.

In practice: three mistakes come up especially often.

• The mat as a punishment spot: if the dog is sent to the mat after every misbehavior, he associates it with trouble. For time-outs you need a different place, not the resting spot.
• A forced long down-stay: a dog that has to hold a down for minutes on end is usually not at rest in his head but busy with obeying.
• Sessions that are too long: at first, a few minutes are enough. If a session regularly ends with the dog jumping up or getting frustrated, it was too long.

In practice: if your dog doesn’t settle at all despite training, constantly demands attention or gets more and more restless in the evening, it’s worth taking a close look at the daily routine, possible pain and stress. Sudden restlessness, especially at night or in older dogs, should be checked by a veterinarian.

👉 Attention-seeking behavior in dogs

7. A note on the evidence

We have not found a peer-reviewed study on mat training itself or on conditioned relaxation cues in dogs. The training steps in this guide are based on general learning principles and practical experience and are marked accordingly. The studies on sleep and learning (Kis, Szakadát et al., 2017; Kis, Gergely et al., 2017) worked with small samples of family dogs in the lab. The study on play after learning (Affenzeller et al., 2017) included sixteen Labrador Retrievers and a single task. The association between restlessness and sleep quality (Carreiro et al., 2023) is based on owner questionnaires and a single lab recording and does not show a cause.

The figures on sleep duration (Kinsman et al., 2020) come from owner surveys, not measurements. The scent-work study (Fountain et al., 2026) included 21 dogs. The studies on touch worked with 28 family dogs in short, standardized contacts (Kuhne et al., 2014) and with 55 shelter dogs without a comparison group (McGowan et al., 2018). The study on behavioral suppression (Hart & Hart, 2026) concerns grooming and can only be applied to settle training by analogy.

8. Conclusion

Rest isn’t a reward for a well-exercised dog but a skill that can be practiced. Sleep and breaks are part of learning, and many dogs need help switching from being active to being at rest. A mat on which nothing is asked of him and a cue that is linked to calm moments can help, if they are built up kindly and patiently.

The three things that make the difference:

Reward calm instead of forcing a down. You capture the relaxed moment instead of demanding a long down-stay.

Start small and build slowly. Duration, distance, distractions and new places, one at a time.

Watch for real relaxation. A soft body and a resting head count for more than holding still.

Key takeaways on teaching your dog to settle

Sleep helps learning. After a period of sleep, dogs performed better on newly learned cues, and learning changed the sleep that followed (Kis, Szakadát et al., 2017).

No fixed order. In sixteen Labradors, play after learning improved relearning the next day more than rest did (Affenzeller et al., 2017).

Experiences carry over into sleep. After an unpleasant social experience, dogs fell asleep faster and spent more time in REM sleep (Kis, Gergely et al., 2017).

Restlessness and sleep quality are linked. Dogs with higher hyperactivity and impulsivity scores slept less efficiently (Carreiro et al., 2023).

Many dogs seek rest near their people. Almost 87 percent of dogs with access to people slept near them at night (Kinsman et al., 2020).

Scent work activates, too. Heart rate rose during searching without the dogs showing stress behavior (Fountain et al., 2026).

Calm petting can relax. Petting on the chest was associated with increased vagal tone (Kuhne et al., 2014), and in shelter dogs heart rate fell during a calm petting session (McGowan et al., 2018).

Holding still isn’t relaxation. During grooming, stronger behavioral suppression went with stronger physiological signs of stress (Hart & Hart, 2026).

Working on a behavior problem with your dog? Our step-by-step dog behavior workbooks cover leash reactivity, being left alone, resource guarding, two-dog households, barking at passersby and noise fear.

References

• Affenzeller, N., Palme, R., & Zulch, H. (2017). Playful activity post-learning improves training performance in Labrador Retriever dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Physiology & Behavior, 168, 62–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.10.014
• Carreiro, C., Reicher, V., Kis, A., & Gácsi, M. (2023). Owner-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity is associated with sleep efficiency in family dogs: A non-invasive EEG study. Scientific Reports, 13(1), Article 1291. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28263-2
• Fountain, J., McWhorter, T. J., Seeley, M.-C., Bindoff, A. D., Handley, K., Hewings, R., & Hazel, S. J. (2026). Heart rate variability and behaviour in dogs during and after scent work. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 299, Article 106986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2026.106986
• Hart, D. S., & Hart, S. J. (2026). Behavioural suppression and autonomic stress responses in dogs during routine grooming procedures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Article 107146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2026.107146
• Kinsman, R., Owczarczak-Garstecka, S., Casey, R., Knowles, T., Tasker, S., Woodward, J., Da Costa, R., & Murray, J. (2020). Sleep duration and behaviours: A descriptive analysis of a cohort of dogs up to 12 months of age. Animals, 10(7), Article 1172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071172
• Kis, A., Gergely, A., Galambos, Á., Abdai, J., Gombos, F., Bódizs, R., & Topál, J. (2017). Sleep macrostructure is modulated by positive and negative social experience in adult pet dogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1865), Article 20171883. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1883
• Kis, A., Szakadát, S., Gácsi, M., Kovács, E., Simor, P., Török, C., Gombos, F., Bódizs, R., & Topál, J. (2017). The interrelated effect of sleep and learning in dogs (Canis familiaris): An EEG and behavioural study. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 41873. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep41873
• Kuhne, F., Hößler, J. C., & Struwe, R. (2014). Behavioral and cardiac responses by dogs to physical human–dog contact. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 9(3), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2014.02.006
• McGowan, R. T. S., Bolte, C., Barnett, H. R., Perez-Camargo, G., & Martin, F. (2018). Can you spare 15 min? The measurable positive impact of a 15-min petting session on shelter dog well-being. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 203, 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.02.011

Note: This guide does not replace individual advice. If your dog doesn’t settle despite training, suddenly becomes more restless or no longer sleeps at night, have him examined by a veterinarian and get professional support.

Frequently asked questions about teaching your dog to settle

Mat training, relaxation cue and everyday life