Park your pup on place!

It starts with a game.

I use the place command every day with my personal dogs to keep them out of the kitchen while cooking and to control their excitement when someone is at the door. How did we get here? By preparing the dog for these exciting moments by breaking it down into three components; duration, distraction, and distance.

Duration is the first step and here we are getting the dog to be forever hopeful that the next second is the second they will be released from the command and allowed to get up and get the reward. To achieve this we need to have a varied reward system in place, which is much easier to continue with if the dog begins learning with the system in place instead of trying to add one in later.

To start we will be playing the “3, 4, 5 game” to help the dog succeed and “stay” for about 19 seconds on the first try. Start with the dog off the place cot and ask for the command “place” and lure them up on the place cot. At this point it is crucial to mark with the continuation marker “good” and feed the dog in the desired position. Now wait three seconds and mark with “good” again and feed in position. Repeat this for four seconds, then five seconds. Here the dog has built up their expectations for the game. We are going to break their expectations. and surprise them with a reward after only four seconds. This is the bell curve effect I use when introducing varied reward systems.

Now that the dog understands they should be remaining in the desired position on the place cot we can move on to distractions. When working on distractions we no longer care about how much time passes between rewards, just if the dog could handle the distraction. Distractions can be knocking on doors, walking around the room, throwing toys around, or even just allowing the kids to run by the dog. For each and every distraction the dog should have their behavior marked and either rewarded or corrected back onto the place cot accordingly.

The final step is adding distance which comes in two forms. Being able to leave your dog in the desired position as well as sending the dog to the place cot from further and further away. To achieve this it is best to start right next to the place cot and then move away one step at a time with each successful send to the place cot.

Always remember that dogs are not robots and have good as well as bad days just like humans do. If you find yourself getting frustrated with the process of teaching your pup feel free to email us and set up a session with our qualified trainers.

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