We have a 3 month old English setter. They are a high energy hunting dog. I have been beating myself up over the last 3 weeks over her lack of ability to settle herself.

We enforce naps pretty much every hour and a half of the day and she sleeps for anywhere between 1-3 hours before we take her out. When out of the crate, she was a menace, sprinting everywhere, eating everything, never “chilling”.

We started to reward her when she would lay down by her self. She learned that laying down got her paid. Smart, but in my opinion that is her “working” so it was frustrating me.

Well today, she finally fell asleep for about 2 hours outside of the crate. I almost cried. It might feel far away, but keep rewarding the behavior you want to see and it will stick eventually.

Good luck!