How to Train Your Dog to Go to Place on Command
Does your pup get a bit overexcited sometimes? Perhaps when he hears the doorbell…. or maybe when she knows it’s time for dinner… or when he sees a squirrel outside the window? Do you wish you were able to work on his reactive / anxious behavior? You are not alone.
Our Experience
Our oldest pup, Barak, doesn’t really like new humans. When we’re out and about, he’s usually content ignoring them. But when we’re at home and people come over… all bets are off. He barks endlessly, jumps on our guests, lunges at them if they move, and generally makes having people over (let alone actually communicating with them) very, very difficult.
Disclaimer
We are not professional trainers and by no means have we figured out the perfect solution for Barak’s anxiety, but we have learned to manage stressful situations more effectively by using the place command with Barak and wanted to share our experience.
Why “Place”? - Some Benefits
It provides your pup a comfortable, safe place to go in stressful situations
It provides a place for you to send your pup where he won’t be underfoot
It provides your pup with a cue as to what behavior you expect from him
Prerequisites
Your pup should know how to sit and lay down. Ideally, your pup would also know how to stay and either shake or touch.
Things You’ll Need
A bed, blanket, pillow cushion, or other thing that will be the “place”
Treats or your pup’s food (e.g. do the training during meal time)
Your dog
Optional: a clicker
Getting Started
As lovely as it would be for our pups to understand that we want them to go lay down someplace that we point towards, we need to break down place training into small, manageable pieces.
Step 1: Reward any contact with the place
We started place training by having Barak touch his place (an outdoor floor mat initially, a dog bed later) - with his paw, snout, or any other part of his body. We prompted the touches using two commands he already knew -
“Touch” (he touches our hand with his nose): we put the mat behind our hand and said “touch”. We’d move our hand away at the last moment, so he’d actually touch the mat instead of our hand.
“Shake” (he puts his paw in our hand): we put the mat under our hand and said “shake”, we’d move our hand away at the last moment, so he’d actually touch the mat instead of our hand.
Each time he touched the mat, we clicked and rewarded him. Barak very quickly took to pawing at the mat every chance he could.
Notes on Step 1
We started by holding the mat up (Part 1) and eventually moved towards leaving it on the floor (Part 2)
Once Barak touched his place, we would lure him away from the mat either by moving away from it ourselves and calling him over or pulling it away from him (note: you won’t want to click him coming over to you as that isn’t the behavior you’re working on here - only when he makes contact with the mat)
Once Barak understood the desired behavior, we transitioned to using the “place” command instead of the original commands
Step 1 - Part 1
Step 1 - Part 2
Step 2: Have your pup sit on the place
Once Barak understood that he would be rewarded when coming in contact with the mat, we wanted to translate the contact into a very particular behavior (e.g. laying down and staying), so we started by transitioning him to sitting on the mat. To do that, we said “place” to get him to come in contact with the mat and then instructed him into sitting by using the “sit” command or using the physical “sit” lure he’s familiar with. Once he sat on the mat, we clicked and treated him. Soon, we didn’t have to separately instruct him to go to place and sit - he would default to sitting on the mat when we said “place”.
Step 3: Have your pup lay down on the place
Once Barak mastered sitting on the mat on command, we added “down” to his place command in the same way that we added sit - by using the “down” command or using the physical “down” lure he’s familiar with. Once he laid down on the mat, we clicked and treated him. He then learned that “place” required him to lay down on the mat.
Step 4: Have your pup lay down and stay on the place until you free him
Once Barak learned that place meant he had to lay down on his mat, we wanted to teach him to stay there until we “freed” him. This step is hard and one that requires constant reinforcement, especially because Barak’s “stay” obedience deteriorates somewhat when he’s triggered by someone entering the apartment.
We did realize that his “stay” is much much better for kongs and high value goodies placed in front of him than for training treats we have in hand. This may be because part of his daily workday routine involves staying for a kong stuffed with treats as we prepare to leave our apartment each morning. So we started using stuffed kongs and high value goodies like chicken necks, lamb shanks, smelt, goat cubes (amongst other delectable treats) to get him to stay on his place - we’d send him to “place”, put the goodie on the place with him, told him to stay, and then gradually prolonged the staying time.
Step 5: Additional Place Work
Don’t hold treats in your hand while directing your pup: once your pup understands the commands, you’ll want to work on place without having treats in hand as you want your pup to be responding to your command rather than listening solely to get the treat
Add distractions: it’s easy enough for your pup to listen to you when it’s just the two of you, focused on one another. If you can, have someone else do something that may distract your pup while you work on place training (e.g. prepare food, feed another pet, walk near your pup)
“Place” between rooms or floors: send your pup to place from a different room or a different floor
“Place” in a new environment: take your place with you someplace new (e.g. a friend’s apartment) and send your pup to place there
“Place” with a new place item: use a different item as the place
What We Use Place For
Now that Barak knows place (he actually goes there on his own just to sleep!), we primarily use it to help manage the following situations:
When someone comes to our apartment, we send Barak to place and give him a high-value, ideally long-lasting chew, like a lamb shank. Although we can see that he’s watching our guest’s movement and is a bit worked up, he doesn’t leave place - he stays put and chomps away at his chew.
When we get home from work, we send Barak to place and give him a kong with some treats inside. We do this because he otherwise gets very worked up, barks a lot, and jumps on us. As happy as we are that he’s excited to see us, we want our return home to be a smoother experience. He’s still excited and sometimes forgets about the kong of treats, but it actually has helped distract him and re-direct his energy.
Wrapping Up
Place training can be a useful way to manage stressful situations. While your pup may not get it all down immediately, approaching place training in steps should make it more manageable.
Step 1: Reward any contact with the place
Step 2: Have your pup sit on the place
Step 3: Have your pup lay down on the place
Step 4: Have your pup lay down and stay on the place until you free him
Step 5: Additional place work
Let us know how it goes for you and your pup in the comments!