Why the pestering starts when the game stops
Exciting play does not switch off like a light. Chasing, wrestling and tug raise your dog's heart rate and arousal, and those fade over minutes, not seconds, so when you put the toy away and sit down, her body is still geared up and looking for an outlet. Dropping the toy at your feet, barking, pawing and nudging are her trying to restart the one activity that matched how revved up she feels. If pestering sometimes works, even occasionally, even because a child gives in and throws the toy once more, it becomes her most reliable strategy. The fix is not a dog who is less playful, it is a dog who has been taught a practised, rewarding way to come down from the high.
End the game on a cue, not on your patience running out
Choose one short finished phrase and use it at the end of every game, before she is exhausted or frantic, while she can still think. Say it in a calm, final tone, put the toy visibly away in its cupboard or pouch, and move straight into the downshift routine without a gap for negotiations. Ending while the game is still going well teaches her that the cue predicts the routine that follows, rather than predicting a scolding for playing too roughly.
Give arousal somewhere better to go
Immediately after the finished cue, scatter a small handful of treats in the grass or on a snuffle mat and let her hunt for them with her nose. Sniffing is naturally calming work for dogs, it slows breathing and occupies the brain without raising excitement again the way another chase would. Indoors, a chew or a stuffed food toy delivered on her bed does the same job and quietly attaches settling to a place. This is not bribery for the pestering, because it arrives after the finished cue and before pestering begins, as a fixed part of the sequence. Over repetitions she will start heading for the scatter area or her bed when she hears the cue, because that is where the next good thing reliably happens.
Reward the settle itself, quietly and late
Once she has finished sniffing or chewing, watch for the first genuine signs of switching off, a sigh, a hip rolling to one side, her chin resting down, and mark those moments with calm praise and an occasional slow treat placed between her paws. If she gets up and pesters, avoid eye contact and conversation, stand up and move away briefly if she is persistent, and then guide her back to her bed and restart the downshift once.
Watch the play itself if settling never improves
A dog who still cannot settle long after the game may be getting too much of the wrong kind of play, or too little rest across the day as a whole. Very long, intense sessions, games that always end at peak frenzy, and days packed with visitors, walks and play with no proper sleep leave many dogs, especially young ones, permanently overtired and wired rather than contentedly tired. If she is restless at night as well, or panting and pacing without an obvious trigger, mention that pattern to your vet, because discomfort can look a lot like a dog who simply will not switch off.
Keep one ending routine for the whole family
Settling after play collapses when one person ends with the cue and the chew while someone else restarts the game because the pestering worked on them. Agree the finished phrase, where the toy goes, and what downshift she gets, and write that ending routine in KinsLe through Care Teams so every family member closes play the same way and she learns the switch-off is real.