Teaching Place

Why is “Place” a valuable tool for you and your dog?

It helps prevent unwanted behaviors like:

Counter Surfing (stealing food off the table and counters)
Bolting out the door
Jumping on guests

It gives your dog an easy behavior to perform instead of any undesired behaviors.

How do you start teaching your dog “Place”?

Pick a spot in your house that your dog will be comfortable and place a comfy bed or mat there. It can even be a spot your dog naturally likes to hang out, like the couch, a rug, or stairs. You may have multiple spots in the house depending on how big your house is and what behavior you are trying to prevent.
Show the bed/mat to your dog and start placing treats on the mat to build your dog’s interest in the place.
Start reinforcing your dog for placing 1 or 2 paws on the place, saying “Yes!” or using a clicker to mark the moment your dog performs a behavior you like and giving them a treat. Start reinforcing for more paws on the mat or a sit on the mat.
Use a release cue such as “Free” or “Ok!” and toss a treat off the mat to teach your dog when it is ok to leave the mat.
Start adding in the cue “Place” (or “bed” or “mat”) in a positive tone while standing next to the place and drop a treat on the mat. Say “Yes” when your dog gets on the mat and drop another treat on the mat. This is reinforcing that the mat is a fun place to be since good things happen on the mat. Release the dog off the mat with your release cue.
Say “Place”, wait for the dog to come over to the mat, and mark (say “Yes”) the behavior and reward your dog by placing a treat on the mat. Release and repeat 5-10 times.

Adding distance to the “Place” cue:

Take 1 step away from the mat. Cue your dog to “Place”, wait for the dog to go to their place, mark and reward on the mat. Release and repeat 5-10 times.
Repeat Step 7, adding a step away from the mat each time. If your dog struggles to go to their mat from the distance you are working at, go back to the previous distance and do a few more repetitions.
The goal is to be able to be standing at the kitchen counter or the front door and cue your dog to go to their place so whatever distance that is from your dog’s mat is the distance we need to work up to.
Keep sessions short, 5 minutes or less, to keep it fun and positive for you and your dog. Take a break and have a play session or go on a decompression walk.

Adding distractions to the “Place” cue:

Once you can send your dog to their place from any location, now we need to start adding in distractions to help your dog generalize the cue no matter what circumstances are happening. Depending on the situation you are training for will determine how to proceed.

Not running out the door or jumping on guests coming inside:

Send your dog to their place, walk over to the door and touch the doorknob. Say “yes” if your dog stays on their place and walk back to your dog to reward on the mat.
Walk back to the door and twist the doorknob. Say “yes” and walk back to
reward your dog.
Walk back to the door and open the door and quickly shut it. Say “yes” and reward. Repeat this step, gradually working up to the door being wide open.
Walk back to the door, open the door, say “yes” and reward your dog.
Walk back to the door, walk through the open door for 1 second and come back inside, shutting the door behind you. Say “yes” and reward your dog.
Walk back to the door, walk through the open door, close the door behind you for 1 second, and walk back inside. Say “yes” and reward your dog.
Keep repeating step 6, staying outside behind the closed door for longer durations each repetition.
Practice when guests come over, rewarding your dog at their place as people come inside. Leash them up if they get overly excited by guests coming over to prevent them from rehearsing the behavior of jumping up on people as you practice staying on their place.

Counter surfing

Now that your dog can go to their place while you’re standing at the kitchen counter, start placing low distraction items on the counter like an empty bowl or plate.
If your dog comes over to investigate, cue them to go to their place and reward them there. Intermittently reward them for staying there or give them a good distracting enrichment toy like a frozen stuffed Kong or Toppl, a bullystick or collagen chew, deer antler, stuffed cow hooves, cow ear, Himalayan chews, et.
Keep adding higher value distractions like a crinkly bag, a cutting board and knives, continuing to reinforce your dog for staying in their place.
Pretend to cut real food from the counter, unpredictably rewarding your dog in their place.
Drop food on the ground, pick it up, and reward your dog if they stay in their place.

About Deana Russell

Deanna Russell- CDBC, CPDT-KA is the owner of Dog Training by Dee in California, St. Mary’s County, Maryland. She provides in-person private lessons.