Dogs And Forced Calmness

Forcing a dog to lay on a dog Place (bed, cot, mat) isn't the same thing as teaching a dog calmness. Calm, as in: no activity, no emotions, no goals, no interest in social interactions, no desire to play, no motivation to do anything at all when you tell the dog to stop. Just lay there like a carpet for as long as you tell them to.

In fact, you can't teach a dog calmness. 

You can calm dogs by exercising them until they are restful.

You will see dogs be calmer when they are no longer puppies.

Dogs will relax if there isn't something they want to do. 

You can avoid stimulating dogs in some circumstances so as to not trigger behaviors or feed expectations of activity. 

Do not buy into the idea that it is a good idea to force calmness in a dog. Learned helplessness isn't the same as calmness. You will find training programs that promise you can calm a dog on command.

Let's try this in a different context. Do you think you can force a 2 year old kid to be calm without causing harm? Try searching Google for "the terrible two's"... see what you find out. Do you think you can make 2 year old kid to be calm at your command?  

Plan accordingly.