What is place?
Place is a go-to-your spot command. The dog should go to an object when commanded and put all four feet on the object. The dog should remain on the object until directed to do otherwise.
Why are we teaching place?
Place can be used to get dogs in and out of their crates, in and out of their cars, to direct them to their beds while you eat dinner or watch a movie, it can be used to give them a job while you answer the front door, to get on and off of the scale at the vets office, to get onto a groomer’s table, to pose for pictures, and in a host of other situations.
Place can be taught with any defined area. It must look and feel different than the surrounding surfaces. You do not need to pick one place and stick with it. Part of the practicality of place is that we can direct our dogs onto different objects.
When choosing object to begin with, pick an “easy” object. Objects that are raised, or have very clear edges are easier for the dog to learn. A thick dog bed is easier than a front door mat, for instance. A tree stump is easier than a slate stepping stone. The landing at the top or bottom of the stairs is easier than a folded towel on the ground. You don’t need to make or buy a place for your dog. If you look creatively around the house, there are likely many options available to you already.
- Approach the place from any side.
- It is easiest if the object is in the middle of the room instead of against a wall to start.
- Take your left hand past your dog’s face, gesturing towards the place. As you pass your dog’s face, grab the leash and guide them into the place.
- See hand signal video below.
- As your dog walks onto the place, reward with verbal praise. When all four feet are on the place, you can reward with a treat (optional), or with a pet and more praise.
- I like to feed cookies to the dog from the place, to help them learn to associate being on the object with being rewarded.
- All four feet must remain in place, although the dog can change positions and move around on the object.
- Maintain a loose leash and back away from your dog.
- Release your dog with a “come” command, “heel” command, or a release command (like “ok” or “free”).
Repeat 20 times a day. Add distractions and duration to the place command.
In this video you can see how Raechel’s left hand catches the leash between her thumb and first finger to guide Blazey onto the correct place.
In this video, Polly demonstrated going to a raise place, and being released via a recall command (come) and a heel command (heel).
What if my dog leaves place?
Repeat the place command and put them back on place as quickly as possible. You can use the hand positioning demonstrated for the sit/stay to help put them back onto place as well (slide your left hand down the leash to reset them). In the best case scenario, we are able to get all four feet back onto place before they have totally left the place.
In the video below you can see Bourbon learning to place on a wooden box. She leave several times, and is directed back to the box and quickly as possible. You can praise/reward in the beginning stages EVERY time the dog gets back onto place.
https://youtu.be/LxiSYtLomjw
What if my dog is afraid of place, and won’t go on at all?
You can entice them onto the place the first few times with treats. Praise them for putting any feet on it at first, then two feet, etc. If they are too afraid to take treats, or get partially on place, try a different object and come back to that one at a later date.
Day 4 & Distractions
When the dog is demonstrating understanding of the place command, we change how often we reward. Typically, this happens after only a few training sessions, so you can begin this process on day 4. You will notice two things start to happen when the dogs starts to “get it.”
1) The dog will start anticipating the place command and go forward towards the place without being commanded to do so.
2) When the dog starts to make a mistake, and you reissue the place command, they move backwards to put themselves back onto the object.
When those two things are happening, we want to more purposefully add distractions to our place training, and ONLY reward the dog when they do place correctly. So if they leave place before being commanded and then you help them back on, no cookie.
Your distractions (we jokingly refer to these distractions as “dog torture”) will vary depending on what motivates and distracts your dog. A sample list of increasing levels of distractions is listed below. This is not an exhaustive list, but should give you some ideas. Try to master the easier levels of distraction before moving onto the more difficult levels.
- Walk to the end of the leash away from the dog.
- Walk in a circle around the place object.
- Jog back and forth at the end of the leash.
- Jog past your dog while they remain on place.
- Throw a toy away from the place object.
- Throw a toy past your dog as they remain on the place object.
- Drop a treat on the floor at the end of the leash.
- “Bowl” a treat across the floor while your dog remains on place.
- Prepare your dogs dinner while they remain on place.
- Ring the doorbell while they remain on place.
- Walk around the corner, out of sight of your dog (if you are in a safe place to do so).