Have a dog who bolts out the door? Or a dog who gets overly excited when guests arrive and jumps all over them? Place training may be the solution you are looking for! Learn how to teach your dog impulse control with place training to stop those unwanted behaviors!
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What is Place Training?
Place training teaches your dog to go to a designated location and wait there until released. It is an invaluable tool in training your dog because it teaches an alternative behavior that can be used to prevent problem behaviors.
Have a dog that begs at the table? Send them to their place while you cook or eat dinner. Dog jumps on guest or barks when the doorbell rings? Teach them to go to their place when they hear the doorbell. Obviously, this change doesn’t happen overnight, but when trained properly, it can make a huge difference in your dog’s behavior.
Place training is often confused with teaching your dog stay. The key difference to keep in mind is that with stay, you are asking your dog to stay put in whatever position they are in. With place training, you are asking your dog to physically move, often away from you to a designated location. While in their place, your dog can sit or lay down and physically move their body as long as all four feet stay on the designated place.
Steps to Training “Place”
First, designate an object to be your “place.” This can be a rug, a bed, or my preference, an elevated cot. In my experience, an elevated cot gives clear boundaries making it easier to understand. Often when using a rug or blanket, the dog will put its front feet on the object and not fully understand the concept of being completely on the object the way that they do when they have to step on and off a cot. (Find the cot that I use here!)
Next, begin the process of teaching your dog to go to their place with a lure. Standing directly in front of the place, lure your dog onto the place and mark with a “yes” and reward with a treat once all four feet are on the place. Repeat this process multiple times without giving a verbal command. Once your dog consistently follows the lure, begin saying “place” right before you begin the lure. Slowly fade away the lure so that your dog responds to the verbal cue only.
Pro tip: Teach a release word, like “off,” from the beginning. When your dog learns from the start to wait for a release, it will make your process much easier to begin adding distance and distractions. To teach this, after rewarding your dog for getting on the place, take a step back and excitedly say “off” while bending down and encouraging your dog to come toward you. Verbally praise and reward with petting.
Continue the process of telling your dog “place” and then “off” while standing right in front of the designated place. Make sure your dog has a clear understanding of these commands before you move on to the next step.
Putting Place Training into Action
To get this command ready to use in real life scenarios, you must build the three D’s of training. Distance, Duration and Distraction.
I like to work on duration first. Slowly increase the amount of time that your dog is on the place before you give the release word “off.” Work slowly to make sure your dog does not practice getting off the place before being released. Increase in small intervals of 30 seconds to start with.
Once you have some duration built, you can work on distance. I like to do this in two ways. The first distance concept that I like to introduce is the distance that I am from the place when I give the dog the command. Instead of standing right in front of the place, I may position myself to the side of the place or a foot back from the place. As the dog has success and learns he can be sent to the place even if I am not directly in front of it, I will gradually increase my distance from the place until I can send the dog there reliably from across the room.
The second aspect on distance that I work on is the distance I can move from the dog while they are already on the place. I will take a step or two to the side to make sure the dog understands that me moving does not equal them being released. This can be a harder concept for dogs to understand at first so start with small movements. You can pace back and forth directly in front of the place so that you are close enough to stop your dog if they try to break the command without being released. Practice movement all around the place, I often practice hopping up and down right in front of the dog to be sure they understand this concept fully.
Once you have the duration and distance mastered, your dog is ready to begin working on distractions. This is what prepares your dog to put these concepts into action so do not skip this step. Practice with a variety of distractions so that your dog is prepared for any real-world scenario. As you practice, make sure that you are moving at a pace that allows your dog to have success. Start with small distractions and work your way up to harder challenges.
A great distraction to practice is having someone knock on the door. I like to use a family member to help with this so I can stay near the dog and be prepared to prevent him from releasing himself. I will have the person walk to the door and just open and shut the door while the dog remains in place. Once the dog has mastered that, I then have them step outside, close the door and then come back in. The next step would be to go outside, knock or ring the doorbell and then as long as the dog is still in place, come back in. Feel free to praise and reward your dog for staying in place. Be sure to use the release word “off” between exercises.
Another easy distraction to practice is picking up one of your dog’s favorite toys or walking to their treat jar and opening it. Anything that causes excitement in your dog can be used as a distraction. You may need someone to help with this step so that one person can stay near the dog and the other can present the distraction.
Practice Makes Perfect
You can’t expect your dog to stay on their place when something exciting happens, like a guest coming over, if you haven’t practiced those scenarios in a controlled environment. Make sure to practice often at a pace where your dog can have success and then gradually increase the difficulty level.
The reason that place training works so well is because it teaches your dog impulse control. They learn to wait for gratification rather than to seek it immediately on their own. Impatient puppies don’t magically turn into patient adults at maturity, they need to be taught. I like to use multiple impulse control exercises for each dog’s training plan for a better behaved, more well-rounded dog.
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