In the early stages of training, or when the lure of distractions may be over-whelming for your dog, you can make your own life a little easier by using tethers to back up your dog's place on his mat. You can also use tethers in outdoor situations to ensure the safety of your dog.

Using Tethers Wisely

While tethers can be extremely helpful in helping you enforce the settle, they can also be very frustrating for your dog if you just use them to restrain her without teaching her what she's supposed to do. Tethers are only to be used under direct supervision. You don't have to be close enough to touch your dog, but you should be able to see her. Provide something for your dog to chew on if she's going to be tethered for any length of time, and make sure the material your tether is made of is indestructible, like chain or vinylcoated steel cable. Indoors or out, tethers must always be attached to something extremely sturdy. It doesn't do much good to hook your dog up to your lawn chair if she's going to drag it around the yard every time you get up for a beverage. The tether should be just long enough for your dog to stand up, turn around, sit, and lie down, slightly longer than the amount of leash you give her when you step on the leash to encourage your dog to lie down when you're working on settle close to you.

Weaning Off Tethers

While you can continue to use tethers to support the settle for your dog's whole life — and it's not a bad idea to do so outdoors, for safety reasons — you'll probably want to wean your dog off them as your dog gains confidence in the exercise (and you gain confidence in your dog). Before you do start weaning off tethers, make sure your dog has been thoroughly proofed and will maintain the settle under a variety of distractions, in multiple environments, both indoors and out.

To start decreasing the dependence on tethers, you're going to do the exact opposite of what you did with the recall: you're going to gradually give your dog more length on the tether, so he has room to make the choice to leave his mat, but not to completely leave the area. Try to ignore him for a few minutes if he leaves his mat and see if he'll return to it on his own. If you have to help your dog stay on his mat a lot, he's not ready for more freedom yet, so continue as you were for a few weeks and then try again. Each time you give him more freedom, double the length of his tether, until it's 6 to 8 feet long. When he can hold the settle in any situation with 8 feet of room to make a mistake, detach the tether from its attachment point and let your dog drag it for another few weeks, then start shortening it a foot or so at a time, like you did when training the recall.