One Behavior That Will Immediately Improve Your Dog

While “Heel” is the ultimate command to teach your dog, it takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to get an amazing heel. We wanted something easier for you to train your dog. And asked ourselves – what is the ONE thing, that anyone can do, in a short amount of time, and get amazing results?

We knew exactly what that would be. It’s PLACE.

What Is Place

Place is your dog’s home base. It could be a dog bed or placeboard. It’s a comfortable spot for your dog to relax and park it. Place is easier than sit/stay or down/stay, and allows your dog more freedom.

When we had our training center in Gainesville, we had a stack of dog cots in the center of the room. When clients brought their dogs out for their initial session or evaluation, we would send Arrow to “place” on the cot stack. The client’s jaws would drop open, they would stare, and say “That! I want my dog to do THAT!”

Place is powerful.

Benefits of Place

Place allows your dog to be part of the family, but not begging or underfoot. 

Place gives your dog a job and mental exercise. Now, you can physically exercise your dog, until your dog is exhausted. But the next day your dog will need more, and even more the day after that. Until you create a super-athlete! We find it better to add lots of mental exercise into your dogs daily life. 

Place teaches calmness and relaxation, for the dogs who are need to relax. Have you ever heard that saying “Smiling will make you happier?” It’s similar to that, teaching place promotes that relaxed state of mind when done right. 

Place is a fantastic confidence builder for everything. Yes, everything. Why? Because your dog learns to trust in you. You encouraged your dog onto place in the first place. You give good advice. And when your dog listens to you and follows your lead, good things happen. If your dog has any problems getting into your car, getting on the scale at your veterinarian’s office, or (for service dogs) going onto the rides at Disney, Place is what your dog needs!

Place is training, but without actually training your dog. What is better than that? We know you have a busy life, and trying to carve out time to train your dog can be difficult. Place can occur no matter what you are doing – watching the kids play in the yard, cooking dinner, watching tv, reading a book, working in the garden, working on the computer, washing your car – your dog can be with you and on place during all of it! 

Your dog enjoys being part of the pack, part of the family, but you can’t have your dog jumping all over the kids, or stealing food from the counter. Place is excellent at introducing the concept the boundaries to your dog. 

How to Train Place

First, you need to start with something that can hold your dog’s weight and is sturdy. Remember, we are working on trust, so having it crumple under the weight of your dog would not be good. 

We also like something raised so there is a difference between being on place, and off place, this makes it easier for your dog to learn and understand what you are teaching. We do not like towels or most dog beds, because they are too easy to squish and move around. 

Our favorite start is either the dog cots from 4Legs4Pets or (because we live on the Ranch, and have a few of these laying around) black rubber tubs. We have also used plastic totes or large books, depending on the size of the dog. 

Let us take a moment to tell you why the dog cots are the best. Most of your dog’s fur and dirt from outside falls thru onto the floor. Actually, the dirtiest spot in our house is underneath place, which makes cleaning easier! We had the “comfy” dog beds, and our German Shepherd developed huge elbow calluses, around the size of a half dollar coin. When we switched to the dog cots from 4Legs4Pets, they shrunk to the size of a small pea. They are also super easy to keep clean. If a dog messes on the place, you take it outside and hose it off. It is safe for use outside, and keeps your dog raised off the ground so they stay cooler. 

Once your dog learns place, you can switch to other surfaces. That’s when you bring out the towel, door mat, dog bed, crate tray, large rocks, park benches… The sky’s the limit!

Sounds amazing, right? Let’s get started!

Have your dog on collar and leash, and walk your dog over the place. If your dog balks at it and doesn’t want to go anywhere near it, you have a few options. You can toss some treats onto the place and encourage your dog to eat them. You can flip place upside down so it is not raised. You can walk over place yourself, stand or sit on it, and show your dog that it isn’t scary. We have taken some dogs and placed their front feet on the place. When they realize that place won’t swallow them alive, they may get on it all on their own. 

Now, we do have some dogs who are “screamers.” They freak out over new things. And the owners know it. They have tried to get their dog into the car, and the dog freaks out and won’t do it. They try to get their dog down stairs, and the dog freaks out and screams. Over stairs. These dogs need place more than any other dog! There may be thrashing and vocalization at first, but stay calm yourself, and guide your dog with a shorter leash. The faster your dog gets on place, the quicker your dog will realize that you can be trusted. 

Once your dog is comfortable walking over the place, you introduce the release. Yes, you start with the end before you name the beginning. Walk your dog up to place and on top of place. Release your dog with “Break” or “Let’s go” and walk your dog off place. 

As your dog understands that “Break” ends the behavior, it is time to name the beginning. As you approach place, and are about a foot away from it, tell your dog “Place.” When your dog is fully on place, “Break” and walk away. 

Now, if your dog gets off place before released, “Nope” and guide your dog back on to place. And your dog will test you! Your dog doesn’t know exactly what “Place” means, so you have to show him. When your dog gets off early, “Nope” and guide back on. When your dog places one foot off the side of place, “Nope” and guilde back on. When your dog lays down and places his head on the ground… well, that one is up to you. Is your dog testing the boundaries, or just getting comfortable? 

Have your dog stand, sit, and down on place. Any are permitted, since place means “get on and stay on this object,” not “hold this one position.” So you need to show your dog that “place” doesn’t just mean “stand on place.”

Remember, work at your dog’s pace. If your dog keeps breaking place, make it easier. You want your dog to be successful, it is no fun playing when you are always wrong! Once your dog is at the point where he is understanding “Place” and “Break,” and doesn’t need as many “Nope,” it is time to add in the 3-D’s. Duration, Distance, Distraction.

Duration is the first increase. At first, maybe on your initial day, aim for just a couple minutes. Your dog should be able to Place for 30 minutes by the end of your first week, and do a couple hours in a couple weeks or so. Why a couple hours? That is the length of most movies. This way, your dog can relax on place while you watch a movie, instead of pacing, standing in front of the tv, or wanting to play parkour over the couch. While you increase duration, you want to keep distance and distraction easy. Stay near your dog and place, be ready to help and guide as needed.

Next we increase distraction. These sessions will have shorter duration, but more things going on. We play the “I’m leaving and you’re not” game, where we take a step or two away from your dog on place, with purpose. Are you leaving? Really? Your dog will think so. And if your dog gets off to follow you, “Nope” and guide back to place. Walk around your dog, does your dog stay on place? It’s okay if your dog stands up, moves around, and lays down again, that is one of the benefits of place instead of down/stay or sit/stay. You should have your dog on leash for this, so drop the leash and pick it up again. Does your dog walk off place when you pick up the leash? He shouldn’t. He should stay on place if you drop the leash, pick up the leash, pat him on the head, drop food a couple feet away, have another person in the room, have another dog in the room, watch tv… The list goes on. What is the easiest for your dog? What is harder? What is the absolute hardest? Write them all down onto a list. With 1 being the easiest and getting harder as the numbers increase. Now, if you come across a problem with your dog getting off of place, look and see where you are and where your dog is successful. If your dog is successful around number 10, and you trying something that is a 25, you know it is too much for your dog. 

Finally, we increase distance. Since we have been working on duration and distraction, distance should be easy. While your dog is on place, walk a couple steps away, with a purpose. Does your dog stay on place? Once your dog is good with that, walk over to your door that leads outside. Then touch the doorknob. Then open the door. Is your dog doing good so far? You may need to do each step multiple times until your dog gets it. 

You can also work on sending your dog to place. As your dog understands what “place” is, especially since you lead your dog onto place, stop a foot from place. Have your dog sit, then place, while you stand still. Your dog will likely need leash guidance at first, but as your dog gets it, your dog will move towards place from further and further away. Sending your dog to place is a must for when the pizza guy comes, or visitors unexpectedly show up. 

As your dog gets comfortable with place, know that your dog is allowed on place at any time, even if you haven’t sent your dog to place. All of our dogs are allowed to be on place when they want to (providing they aren’t supposed to do something else at that time). One of ours would put himself on place, and forget that he put himself there (not us) and wait for us to release him. He would stand on it and watch us eagerly for the release. He would pop off and get right back on again…

Action Steps

Your action steps for teaching Place are:

• Get a placeboard or an object that is sturdy and large enough for your dog.

• With your dog on leash, get your dog comfortable walking over Place.

• Add Release word, we use “Break” or “Free” or “Let’s go.”

• Build Duration, Distraction, and Distance.

It sounds like a lot of work, but for most dogs, we can teach place in just a few minutes. Enjoy it – we know your dog will LOVE it!