Calm and Settled: Introducing Tie-Down (Tethering)

You should have received a plastic-covered cable tie-down in your new puppy supplies if you didn’t have one already. The tie-down is a convenient way to safely reduce the freedom of puppies as they are learning to be welcome house guests and when raisers need a safe place for the puppy to be while there’s extra hustle and bustle within the home (e.g. cooking dinner, guests coming over, etc.). Be sure to review the Tie-Down (Tethering) section of the Confinement policy for safety guidelines around using a tie-down. Reach out if the puppy has trouble with any of these steps or is unable to progress!

Pre-requisites

• The puppy has been introduced to the leash and is calm when they feel collar pressure

What You’ll Need

• Tie-down
• Sturdy tether location (e.g. heavy furniture, eye-bolt in the wall, etc.)
• Kibble in your bait bag
• Sleepy puppy who is not hungry, thirsty, or needing to potty
• Calm and quiet home
• Stuffed Kong (in later sessions when you aren’t at the puppy’s side)

When first introducing the puppy to being on tie-down, sit next to the puppy either on the floor next to them or in a chair/on the couch. Using a quiet, soothing voice and pet the pup for remaining calm. You can calmly offer kibble as long as the pup doesn’t get too excited by the food.

As the puppy relaxes, you can pretend to be busy (e.g. read a book, scroll on your phone, etc.), but stay close enough to occasionally reach down and give them a snack for being calm. We want to keep these initial sessions short so the pup has a good time and isn’t getting antsy or worried. If the puppy whines, pulls, or chews on the tie-down, ignore the pup as long as it’s safe to do so and wait until they’re calm to release them from the tie-down.

Once the puppy has practice settling calmly on tie-down with you sitting beside them, you can start working on not being next to the puppy.

Here’s a Tip!
You’ll want to be sure the pup has some experience with the stuffed Kong and has practiced settling in the YES space.

Start next to the puppy and give them the stuffed Kong as you stand up – this will give them something fun and tasty to keep them busy when you leave! Over time, you can move further and further away and pretend to be busy. Eventually, you’ll want to work up to no longer needing the stuffed Kong distraction, too. Keep these sessions short and sweet and only come back to reward or release the pup when they’re calm and quiet. If the puppy is having a tough time settling and heavily barking or whining, end the session and go back to an easier step next time.