Calming a anxious Toy Poodle during training

Generalised anxiety in dogs is tricky because there's no single trigger to work around — the dog is simply operating at a higher baseline stress level all the time, which is especially disruptive during training because learning requires a calm, receptive mind. It sounds like your Toy Poodle is struggling to settle enough to engage, which is a really common problem in the breed. Before I point you toward something specific, can you tell me a bit more about what the anxiety looks like during sessions — is it restlessness, inability to focus, excessive panting or vocalising? And is the anxiety pretty constant throughout the day, or does it spike in particular situations?

That pattern — chronic low-level anxiety that spikes when you ask for focus — is really characteristic of Toy Poodles specifically. They're wired to be alert and responsive, which is great, but it tips easily into hypervigilance. The frantic sniffing is a classic displacement behaviour; he's not being disobedient, he's coping. A couple of quick questions: have you tried any calming products before, and do the training sessions happen at home or in different environments?

Right, that context makes a lot of sense. A spray is a short-acting, localised solution — it's fine for a specific spot like a crate or car seat, but it's not going to help a dog who carries anxiety around with him all day. What you need is something that provides consistent, background-level calming throughout the day and travels with him to class too. My recommendation is the Adaptil Calm On-The-Go Collar. It's an elasticated collar that releases a synthetic version of the dog appeasing pheromone continuously for around 30 days. Because it goes wherever he goes, it addresses both the home baseline and the class environment without you having to do anything differently. Pheromone collars are one of the better-evidenced options for generalised anxiety specifically — they're not sedatives, so he'll still be mentally present, just operating from a lower stress baseline. That's exactly what you need for training to become productive. It comes in sizes suited to a Toy Poodle and is widely available on Amazon UK.

Most owners notice a difference within the first one to two weeks, though the full effect tends to build over the first month. A good way to track it is to rate his behaviour in three specific moments each day — start of a training session, mid-session focus, and general restlessness in the evening — on a simple 1-to-5 scale. That gives you something objective to compare against rather than relying on a general impression. If you're not seeing any meaningful change by week three, that's a fair signal that pheromone therapy alone isn't enough and you'd want to speak to your vet about whether a short course of medication alongside behaviour work might help. But for a dog with his profile, the collar is a very reasonable first step.