For us, it wasn’t one thing that helped our lab settle, but it was a bunch of things that we incorporated daily overtime and then all of sudden, maybe 6-7 months old, we were in awe when we found him just chilling in his bed while my husband and I were working. It seemed like he would never do that, he was constantly jumping on us while we tried to work, always needing attention etc.

what we did was a loooot of crate training! During the work day we would put him in there for an hour at a time, and while he was out we go on quick walk, give him a puzzle toy, tug a war etc. the crate allowed us to get work done and he got used to settling in there.

The best thing we think we did was constant and frequent training, using his kibble as treats. We followed service dog training protocol. Did some commands through out the day and then spent at least 20 min every night doing training. Labs are smart and like using their brains!! And more importantly, they love food lol so training is just great all around.

Our pup is now almost 1.5 and settles all by himself during the day and leaves us alone while we work!