Puzzle’s got the first 6 foundational mat skills:

Now it’s time to move from structured training sessions to real life: when using mats in real life, you won’t be focusing on your dog – you’ll be busy doing other things! You’ll want your dog to stay parked and feel comfortable on the mat even when your attention is on something or someone else. This is our sixth step:

7. Casually hanging out on the mat while life happens around the dog.

This is best started at a time of day your dog is naturally calm. Depending on your dog, this may be in the evening after dinner, or after a walk … Whatever your dog’s natural down time tends to be.

Here is Puzzle relaxing on her mat while I do housework. I leave the room and go out of sight now and then, I do the dishes … Puzzle gets a treat every once in a while because the mat exercise is still relatively new. Game gets one too, of course – I don’t want my bestest big girl to feel left out!

PS: What you can hear in the background is this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast. If you’re not familiar with Huberman Lab, check it out – it’s one of my favorite podcasts!