How do I teach a dog patience during play?

While the sources do not outline a specific drill for teaching “patience” strictly during play, they heavily emphasize that teaching your dogs general patience and politeness will improve their behavior overall. Because rough-and-tumble dog play can easily make dogs overly excited and escalate into a real fight, teaching them to settle down and tolerate frustration is key.

Here is how you can teach patience and manage your dogs’ play based on the sources:

Enforce “Cooling-Off” Breaks. Even if your dogs are playing beautifully together, too much play can lead to over-arousal. You can teach your dogs to be patient and settle down by regularly interrupting their play sessions. When they get too loud or have been playing for a long time, separate them and have them take a break. You can enforce this by putting them on strict “down-stays,” placing them in different areas of the house, or giving them chew toys to keep them occupied until they calm down.

Teach Foundational Patience Exercises. You can cultivate patience in your dogs by practicing specific group exercises that require them to control their impulses:

• The “Group Wait”: Teach your dogs to wait patiently at doorways and only pass through when you release them individually by name. This stops them from rudely trampling each other to get outside.

• The “Group Off”: Teach your dogs to back away from dropped food or high-value items, rewarding them only when they pause or look away.

• Waiting for Attention: Put one dog on a “stay” while you give a few seconds of affection to another dog, then reward the waiting dog for being polite.

These exercises teach your dogs that they can “win” in life by being patient and polite, rather than by being pushy and competitive.

Reward Politeness Over Pushiness. Dogs need to learn how to cope with the frustration of not getting what they want immediately. Do not give in to dogs who demand your attention or try to aggressively control a game. Instead, ignore the demanding dog and reward the dog that is acting calmly and appropriately for the situation.

Practice a “Watch Me” Cue. Consistently practicing a “watch me” command (often using a clicker) will train your dogs to immediately focus on you. The more responsive they are to this cue, the easier it will be to quickly redirect their attention if a play session becomes too rough or tense.

Use “Body Blocks” to Establish Boundaries. If a dog is overly enthusiastic or pushy—such as trying to charge into your lap while you are sitting—do not push them away with your hands. Instead, use a “body block” by tucking your hands in and leaning forward with your torso or shoulder to occupy the space before they do. This mimics how dogs naturally control space and teaches them to respect physical boundaries.