Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live, unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. creating calmness, and becoming
the kind of leader your dog truly needs. We do
that with our three pillar method of trust, obey,
and perform. Together, we'll show you how these
three pillars shape every step of training. Thanks
for being here. Let's get started. Hey, everybody.
Episode 15, Place and Space Command. I had a
whole thing lined up to say to that, and then
I forgot it all. So I was laughing right before
we started here, and I just totally forgot all
of the buttons on the soundboard and how to do
all this stuff. You just take one and a half
weeks off, and then everything falls apart. Okay,
so. Episode 15, place and space, teaching calmness
in the home. Everything that we do is basically
related to dogs and pets in the home. That's
what we talk about. And tonight we're going to
talk about our core idea, which is that place
as a command teaches dogs how to stay calm and
neutral around everyday household activities.
It gives the dog a clear picture of having a
job. And it reduces the chaos and the random
things that are going on in the home. And builds
impulse control, at least when practiced consistently.
So as we jump into this, welcome back from the...
A little extended break from our last episode.
We had Christmas and then New Year's and then
the one week or so that we take off each year.
And we just work with our own dogs and go on
adventures and try to survive the random North
Carolina. Weather snaps, right? One minute it's
31 degrees. The next minute it's 70 degrees outside.
I know. It's so crazy. And you don't know whether
to wear a parka or sunblock. And it's killing
me right now. Just put both on. Just put both
on early in the morning. You're ready to go.
So as we get into our topic tonight, this is
Brianna's favorite topic. Yeah. She loves some
place. Yeah. Place and threshold banners are
my two go -tos. To the point where she brought
a place bed for her dog on vacation. Yeah, I
bring them everywhere. Everywhere. Even if it's
not like a place bed, it's like a towel or a
rug or like a mat or something for sure. Right.
And we're going to talk about why that's important,
right? So why? Having those definitive boundaries
on a place bed or space is really important to
the dog. We'll get into that in just a couple
minutes. Major point number one is why it matters.
So why does it matter? So it provides something
predictable for the dog and a structure that
they can understand. It gives them a space to
relax and to know that that's where they go to
do that. So it just provides the dog with its
own little space. Right. And when... I'm trying
to think of how I can phrase this. So when we
deal with dogs and owners that are like, well,
when does my dog... just get to you know roam
around the house and get to just be a dog the
double -edged sword to that comment is that when
a dog is just being a dog inevitably they're
going to make dog decisions and if you I guess
fairly, you can only expect your dog to do what
you have taught it. Yeah. And so if you haven't
taught it what to do in the home and you only
constantly correct them for, no, don't chew on
that. No, don't pick up this. No, don't take
that remote over there. No, don't grab those
eyeglasses. Those are mine. No, don't chew up
this shoe. You put your dog and you and your
relationship at odds. And now it's you against
your dog because the dog's like, it kind of sucks
here. I don't really get to do anything. I just
get told, no, don't do that. No, don't do that.
No, don't do this. So it's not, because we're
going to talk a lot about this structure tonight.
And someone listening is going to be like, oh.
They're those people that just don't let their
dog do anything. And that's not what we're trying
to get across. But if you haven't, you don't
fix reactivity, a dog reacting to another dog,
without giving the dog a job to do. Telling them
what you want them to do. You can't create or
change behaviors without teaching a dog what
you want them for. actually to do instead. So
when we, we let the dog just be a dog. Well,
the dog has different motivations than you do.
They have different things that they find value
in than you do. So they're not, obviously they're
not going to make the same decisions that you
would make. And that by itself can create stress.
especially with a newer dog that, or with an
owner that isn't used to having a dog around.
And now they do have one and they're like, well,
uh, the dog I had 10 years ago, they just like,
they were just chilling. Yeah. They were fine.
Well, the dog, the memories that that owner has
of that dog is mostly like towards the end of
its life. It's not all they don't. Usually people
don't remember back to, oh, I remember that first
year that I had this dog and things were crazy.
No, they remember after they've been through
all of those like crazy things. And now the dog
just chills. Well, at that point, that dog has
inevitably learned what is expected and what's
not. So our conversation is more geared towards
the owners as they're learning their dog and
their dog is learning what's expected and what's
not. This is where having a place for the dog
to go that is definitive and has borders and
the dog can succeed at being in is so important.
That space is a fenced in little area, which
we can apply to the backyard, the front yard,
any yard, right? A definitive like fenced in
area keeps the dog from making bad decisions
like running away. Well, a place bed also gives
the dog something that they're allowed to do
and that they can understand and process. Hey.
They throw a party and bring me treats and bring
me ice cubes and all of these other things when
I lay on this little area right here. This is
a nice area. Yeah. I don't get yelled at. I don't
get told no. I don't get chased around. I don't
anything. This is great. And that can build confidence
in the. Just the general like dog framework,
right? You can increase their confidence because
they have something that they now know this is
acceptable. Right. Yep. And then that is a tool
that you can apply in all these different ways.
So we'll, I'm going to get off of my soapbox
here because that was like my intro to this.
When I, we first opened this episode and I was
like, I had something lined up to say. We were
going to talk about that. I couldn't. Couldn't
get it out. So place teaches the, like a fixed
location that then gives the dog this kind of
like neutrality in the home where, Hey, this
is, this is just a chill zone. I, nothing bad
happens to me when I'm here. It's safe. My parents
just like, let me relax. Sometimes they like,
Bring me fun and yummy things. Or maybe I get
to chew on a bone or play with a toy in this
space. This is a cool spot. That's what we want
to cultivate with a dog. We don't just want it
to be, no, you go over there. No, we don't. That's
not how we want to interact with our dog at all.
But it gives us that. thumbs up to the dog that's
like yeah this is what i want you to do so now
you can very fairly and very clearly be like
no don't chew on that shoe go over here and be
on this in this space no don't go in that laundry
room and go through all the laundry go to this
space right it prevents the rehearsals of those
like behaviors that you just don't want in a
dog whether they're like chewing on things in
your house grabbing things like you said um just
kind of causing chaos in the home that's how
you prevent those behaviors from just repeatedly
happening and just having to shut the dog down
right instead of doing that give them something
to do right and then the the next thing is when
you have guests over yeah right that is A place
command is integral to our guest protocol or
what we would explain to owners is this is the
process of doorbell goes off and we want to teach
that doorbell interaction as a precursor to going
to my place. So that that's the cue, right? And
now it's like, oh, I go to my place and then
I can see who it is. and see who it is is not
let me go crowd the door and and jump on someone
it's let me maybe i put this place bed in a way
that they can see straight line to the door yeah
so that then when someone comes in they're like
ah i'm one of the first ones to get to see who
this is but i can only see that from my place
yeah just as an example um so the the end state
here is that place allows a reduction in the
anxiety that can pop up in a dog from not really
understanding why everything that they do, especially
with young puppies, everything that they do is
like a no -go. We deal with this with Dexter
all the time. Dexter loves to create chaos. He
loves to bite stuff. He loves to hold things
in his mouth. Not so much like chew on them because
we don't give them the opportunity, but he loves
to pick things up and carry them around. And
inevitably, if you allow him to just roam around
the house, he's going to find something to pick
it up because he invents a job. He needs something
to do. Well, giving him a place command is a
job. And it puts him in a position where he's
like, I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing it.
I'm doing the thing that they told me to do.
Yeah. Instead of him deciding what to do, which
is for sure going to be not what I want him to
do. Yeah. He ping pongs around and he's like,
I'm going to pick this up. I'm going to pick
this up. I'm going to pick this up. Right. Looking
for work. Yeah. Right. All right. So the next
thing that it does is it strengthens or gives
you the ability to start strengthening their
impulse control because once they're on a place,
Now you're dealing with the impulse control of
whether they're going to stay there or not. And
so now that gives you this, it puts you in position
to then to work with your dog, right? And it
puts you in a position where when they step off
of their place, now this is a training event,
right? And now it's no. I asked you to stay on
your place. Oh, okay. And you see them like fidget
or yawn, stress yawn or whatever, whatever it
is. And maybe all you did was just step towards
them and they're like, ah, spatial pressure.
And they step back onto their place bed. Now
their brain is processing, ah, I have to stay
here. I got to stay here. I got to stay here.
I got to stay here. That is super valuable. Because
now you're able to actually work on that impulse
control in a way that is simple. If you try to
break down impulse control, but you're out at
a park and dealing with squirrels and wildlife
and you as an owner, let alone a trainer who.
may be educated and looking for some of these
things. If you're trying to sort through all
of the variables and the nuances and the body
language and the distractions to reliably and
clearly communicate to your dog how you want
them to control themselves. Yeah. or control
their thoughts in that environment, good luck.
Right, because the dog just doesn't ignore it.
They have something else to do that's more important
to them and more motivating to them than the
outside. So that's just not going to be a successful
strategy is to work on impulse control in the
moment and in the heat of the moment of the impulse.
Where you work on the impulse control and where
you build it is in that controlled environment
where... Hey, they want to come off of that place,
but they're able to think through it. And that's
where we build that pattern recognition and we
build those successful repetitions. Okay. I'm
referring to my notes real quick. I hit all of
my other points here. So when owners get really
wrapped around the axle of obedience commands
and. And well, I just want my dog to come or
I want my dog to down and I just want them to
stay down. There is a lot of value in the place
command. But when we're super focused on just
commands like no, come stay down. What what do
you use to kind of explain the value of that
place command to. an owner that's kind of really,
I guess, zeroed in on, on obedience more than
what I would consider emotional regulation. Right.
So that's what I always kind of like lean towards
the conversation of is like, and we had this
conversation this morning. It's like a lot of
dog training is teaching a dog how to do nothing
because That's not a part of training that anybody
does with their dog. And if you do, cool. I'd
love to hear about it. But I have never met just
a regular pet dog owner who teaches their dog
how to do nothing. You know, they're always kind
of trying to teach them how to do something.
And so a dog inevitably just learns how to go,
go, go, go, go. And then at one, you know, one
years old or however old, the dog is just so
hyped up people are like i don't know what to
do with all this energy but we've spent the dog's
whole life teaching them to go go go and do something
do something do something yeah so the value in
teaching a dog how to do absolutely nothing other
than just kind of be on this place and go relax
while i do something is a crazy amount of of
training that is invaluable to most people so
give me another or give our listeners another
example of like how you use place like out with
those other distractions yeah so how does it
translate right so it's building in like the
ob to a degree place can be an obedience command
right if you teach a dog place that's something
that they know how to do And you can translate
that into environments that make the dog nervous
or, you know, just a different level of distracted
really. It doesn't even have to be fearful or
nervous or anything like that. But I do use that
a lot for dogs. Like I set up in parking lots
with a place bed. And I do a place bed because
there's a difference of taking a dog out to a
different textured. um environment like concrete
or grass or dirt or whatever and asking them
to sit or down most dogs are going to feel unnatural
the first time or two doing that if not more
times than that but if you take a place bed the
dog is familiar with that and asking them to
go to that place you can then ask for sit and
down while on that place bed and build in more
obedience while working through those distractions
so it's just a familiar thing that you can give
your dog right I mean a lot of people bring like
blankets and dog beds and stuff like that with
them um to different places because it's their
dog's like comfort item I mean essentially like
that's how I use a place but it's a dog's comfort
item right I take it everywhere and it can be
a soft one most of the time we just use the elevated
but it's a dog's comfort item it's their space
to relax it's like a kennel space to a degree
but they get to be in the space with you and
kind of hanging out so they're learning that
they have the choice of hanging out with you
in their own designated area and not be confined
to the kennel right it's just laying on a place
bed in whatever comfortable position they want
and i think a lot of people always think that
Even if you're on a place bed, the dog can't
be doing anything. But we are all the time rotating
like bones and chew toys and things like that
for the dogs on the place because it gives them
something to do. And inevitably they're like,
okay, I'm kind of tired now. I'm going to take
a nap. Yeah. Love it. Okay. So how do we teach
it? So teaching the command clearly. Let's break
this down. So when we. First start teaching place.
I like to try to shape their behavior in this
situation. And so what that means is I'll start
with, I guess to back this up for a second. So
there are elevated place beds. which is my preference
to use when I first teach this. And a place bed
can be anything, right? A place bed can just
be, like you were saying, just a mat, a towel,
a little square, a little carpet square, or whatever.
The value of an elevated place bed is that it
builds a very definitive, vertical, change of
level right change of elevation when the dog
steps off of it and i think that's really really
helpful when you're first trying to teach a dog
yeah for sure to to be on a place because not
only does the dog have to break the perimeter
but they also have to change levels yeah and
when a dog has to step down and off of something
in order to to break that it's very clear that
the dog is now off of their place. When you do
it on just a mat or like a fuzzy padded whatever,
right? All the pet stores sell all sorts of different
versions here. But let's say the dog, I'm going
to try to describe it, but the dog's front paws
are like well off of the place bed, but you know.
three quarters of their body is all on the place
bed. Well, are they on or are they off? Yeah.
And this is always something that you usually
gets asked in the middle of the lesson is like,
well, when do I correct them? Well, that's, that's
up to you, but whatever your level is has to
be exact and it has to be consistent. Otherwise
the dog's like, I am on my place. What do you
mean? Right. And then we always end up seeing
like the army crawl, right? Where the dog's just
like, right. Yeah. I am just gonna kind of inch
off of here, but I'm still in my place. Yeah.
I'm still in my place though. Don't worry. So
the way that you avoid that is it's except with
maybe a certain Frenchie that I know. Who will
just like hang themselves off of the edge of
the bed. I know it's not even comfortable. So
it's ridiculous. So but the elevation allows
the dog to be very, very clear when they step
off of that or they they come off that. Now they're
touching the ground. You can correct them. You'd
be like, no, that's wrong. and when we correct
that we can just step towards them we take that
space away that spatial pressure and in most
of the times the dog will just back up yeah so
i like to take that bed and i like to move it
into a position where i can likely get the dog
to cross that threshold or to to walk across
it yeah if you have a dog that just refuses to
like walk on it then we have a different issue
right and we can start by just getting them near
it and we can mark and then reward you guys can
use um clickers we can use our verbal commands
we can use any type of marking um process that
you've already built into the dog so dog gets
near the bed cool i mark it reward Mark and reward
over and over and over. Then I'm able to get
them a little closer and a little closer. Eventually,
we get front paws onto the bed. We continue to
mark that. Then we get the full, all four paws
onto the bed. That's an important level that
we've got to get to. Because once we get to four
paws on the bed, now... We can start to name
that as our behavior, right? Once that's reliable,
that is the actual command place for pause on
this space right here. Where I'm trying to stay
on track in a way that is not rabbit hole -ish.
So when I name it, I want to start naming the
command. as they're doing it so right as that
fourth paw comes off of the ground and touches
the bed i'm naming it place and then hitting
them with my reward marker whatever that is in
this case ours is free and then i let them jump
right back off of that because i don't want to
build too much duration right at the beginning
or try to require a bunch of duration with either
a nervous dog or a dog that's just starting working
on a brand new command so I release them. I give
them that release marker that is a reward -based
marker. I'm like, hey, great job. You're done.
Go ahead and jump off of there. And then I set
it up so that they can do it again. When the
placement of the bed is a little important, at
first, if I can just get them to walk across
it, that's awesome. And right as they walk across
it, I reward them. Yeah. I think also with like
a little bit more fearful dogs, if you flip elevated
beds upside down so that they're laying on the
ground, a lot of times the dogs are more apt
to walk over it or put their feet on it. Yeah,
that's a great first step before you flip it
back over. Okay, so once we've got a dog that
will put all four paws on the bed. This is an
important definition that I want to talk about.
So the reason why we require four paws on the
place bed and not a down or a sit is because
those are even more demanding positions. If you
put a dog in a sit and then the dog lays down,
Do you correct them? Right. Or do you not? This
brings up a whole nother conversation. So without
going down the rabbit hole, cause we're going
to talk about sitting down and some other things
on another episode without going too far off
the path here. I just want my place command to
mean four paws in this space. You can lay down,
you can sit, you can stand, you can spin around.
All of those things are fine. I just want four
paws on here. What that does is it builds some
freedom in the fact that you don't have to constantly
correct for something even more exact. If you
put a dog on a place bed and then you tell them
down, well now if they get up and they sit up
or they like... fidget like turn around or they're
doing whatever you are not building clarity in
your dog if you're not correcting them or you're
not telling them no i said down so to alleviate
that whole issue we just want four paws on that
place bed yep that makes it as simple and as
easy and clear to the dog as possible You just
got to be right there in that little perimeter.
That's all I want. Okay. Let me look at this
because I went off of my points, but I think
I nailed the explanation there. Do you have anything
to add on the explanation of just the hierarchy
there process? We talked about duration. building
short clean reps that one's really really important
so we the next step once i am able to get the
dog to go on to their place hop off come get
the treat i do that a whole bunch of times then
i can start building some duration really short
right the three d's of dog training or of that
come into play later the more advanced right
is our distance duration and distraction those
three things always work against us and we're
always using them to try to proof our commands
so once the dog will reliably go onto their place
bed and hop off now we start building duration
and with duration i want to start Real simple.
Two seconds. Three seconds. Four seconds. That
allows you to just hold the dog in place just
for a little bit. And then you release them with
that free command or whatever your positive release
is. I hope that that makes sense. But speed and...
Quick releases with short, clean reps is really,
really, really important. And the number one
thing that I see dog owners do wrong when they're
training is that they get so excited that their
dog's listening and they're breaking through.
And they're like, yeah, this is awesome. And
we go into testing too quickly. Right. And you're
like, oh, I wonder if I can walk around this
counter and get them to stay. Oh, wow. They did.
This is so great. I wonder if I can go and disappear
down the hallway. Oh, they did. I'm going to
walk outside immediately. And it's like, no,
stop, stop, stop, stop. Because at the point
where you push it too far and they fail, you've
actually taken three or four steps back and you
don't realize that you have and you need to build
those perfect. clear repetitions with enough
frequency and enough repetition to drive that
pattern home in the dog's brain before you make
it more difficult. And so if I can advise anyone
listening on the most important thing is just
go slow. Go slow when those baby steps and really
make sure that you've got it. I'm not talking,
oh, well, he's done it like 10 times. I am talking
way more than 10. And your dog is going to for
sure decide on how many is appropriate. But way,
way more. When we do a dog, we bring a dog in
for a program, we're doing hundreds of repetition
to build then the next step in. 10 is not enough.
But it is excruciatingly painful to be like,
well, I just did this for the 20th time. Right.
I know. But that is that's what dog training
is. Yeah. That's how we build that reliability.
Yeah. You can't get around it over and over.
Yeah. All right. What's your preferred first
session for for introducing place? What does
that look like to you? I mean, I think you kind
of described it right. I set the bed up against
a wall typically so I can just walk the dog over.
Most dogs, especially if they already have a
place bed, most dogs do, but they just don't
have a command built in for it. Pretty easily.
A wall is really good because you can stand on
the other side and then walk them through between
you and the wall. Right. And a lot of times dogs
don't even like realize. And if you stop and
take a pause right there. then you can just give
them the release and they don't even understand
what's happening at first. So yeah, that's pretty
much, yeah. My favorite is just walking them
over it. But like I said, if the dog already
has a bed, then it typically, you know, clicks
pretty quickly for a dog to be like, oh, okay,
I'll just go lay on my comfy bed over here. What
do you think is like some of the mistakes that
make place training kind of fall apart? Early
on. Not giving a break command and just letting
your dog get off without saying anything. Okay.
Yeah. So, so either pushing it too, too far,
too fast. And that's my other one. Yeah. Right.
And, and so I kind of like talked about that,
but also the other one is more innocent. It's
like, well, I, they were, let's say that you've
got some duration, right? And your dog does go
to place reliably. Well, now you're watching
TV and you're distracted and then your dog breaks
place. And maybe three or four or five minutes
in and they break place and you don't notice.
And then you just move on to another activity
and you're like, oh, right. I forgot. And now
your dog goes with you. Right. And you just move
on because you're like, oh, well, I forgot. I
wasn't clear. I didn't realize I didn't. And
you blame. You're like, oh, well, it's not fair
for me to correct them. I would disagree because
and because you don't have to be mean about it.
Yeah. But you for sure at the moment that you
do realize you got to be like, oh, you tricked
me. Like, cool. I'm not going to. I'm not going
to punish my dog. Right. Like, but I'm for sure
going to walk them back over there and be like,
no, no. I told you to go onto your place and,
and you tricked me and, and I didn't notice,
but we're going to go back there and we're going
to finish that out the right way. That's really
important. Yeah. Because you'll make a lot of,
uh, training dollars on this, on this subject,
right? When it's just because you, you mess it
up and you didn't catch it exactly on point doesn't
mean that you can't. just guide them back there
through leadership and being like, no, no, this
is where I want you to be. Right, and it takes
a few extra seconds or minutes, right? But those
are the things that matter and add up in the
long run of your dog learning the difference
of whether you meant it or not. Yep, yep. The
last subject that I think... Well, I want to
bring up and then we'll, we'll move on to using
it in real life. And we'll talk about a little
more of those things is that your dog place is
a great opportunity for your dog to test your
desire and your, like the words that are coming
to my head are like mental fortitude, right?
Like what is your. True stomach for how involved
you're going to get. Yeah. And I think that dogs
have way more patience than we do. And place
is a great command for a dog to kind of like,
it's a play on words, right? Sniff you out for
how serious you're really going to be. Yeah.
And they're really good at it. Because they'll
be cute about it. They'll be silly about it.
We have a Frenchie that I was joking about earlier.
We have a Frenchie that will just kind of slither
off of this elevated place bed. And she's only
like 14 inches long. She's like almost upside
down. Right. She's almost upside down and her
back legs are like sticking up into the air because
she just doesn't have the length to like really
slither off of this thing. But it will be like,
you know, you're you're watching it and you're
like, oh, my gosh, you are the most ridiculous.
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.
But you have to like stop yourself. It doesn't
matter if it's ridiculous. Go correct it. Right.
You got to be like, no, no. Get back on your
place. If you don't, then as cute and as funny
as it is, they still outbluffed you, right? They're
like, you're not actually going to do anything
about this. And when they find that. They're
for sure going to be opportunistic about it.
That doesn't mean they're manipulating the situation.
They're just being opportunistic, which animals
are. Animals are opportunistic. That means the
door being open is usually not a, I'm going to
go outside. The dog is not making a decision.
I'm going to go outside and I'm going to run
around and I probably see another dog and I might
bark at that one. They're not thinking through
the process. They're just like, the door's open.
I'm going out. Yeah. oh there's food on the ground
i'm gonna eat it right it's it's impulsive it's
opportunistic as i say you know what helps with
that impulse control right exactly so engagement
in you and impulse control so the and the way
that we train that is by being brilliant in the
basics we have to correct those little things
oh it's just one paw right oh it's oh they're
just he's Actually, he's just trying to get comfortable.
Right. And the dog kind of is like rolling kind
of off of the place, but well, they're feeling
you out. Yeah. Right. Are you going to correct
that? Is it a big deal? Is it not a big deal?
Well, those are your opportunities and what you
do in those moments will define some of your
other moments that you might not realize are
related. Yeah. So inevitably when the dog is
barking at something, you're like, hey, knock
it off. Or dog is chasing something and you're
like, hey, come, come back here. Or you are out
somewhere and you're like, no, get back under
this chair or on my side. He'll come do this,
do that, whatever it is. Those things are related.
If you're not holding your dog accountable in
those calm, relaxed situations. You don't have
a hope in the world at breaking through in those
impulsive, crazy situations. Okay. The last thing
that we're going to talk about tonight is using
place in real life where integrating it into
our daily routines allow a lot of power in, in
our, not just our. training of a dog but also
in building our relationship with the dog every
bit of training dog training is not about control
over the dog dog training is about building a
relationship to where your dog wants to listen
to you Because it's fun and it's engaging and
it's in their best interest and they want to
please you and they want to make you happy and
it's just a great time, right? It's a positive
experience. That is what dog training is all
about. And so, let me not go down that rabbit
hole. But in general, this comes up a lot when
I'm, trying to explain the value of, of the training
atmosphere and, and training in the home, because
it's not just about when the dog trainer is there,
right? Everyone here listening is, has to be
the dog trainer has to be. And, and the dog trainer
like concept, it's not just about that guy coming
over and telling me what to do. The, The dog
trainer aspect is you've got to be your dog's
friend, but also your dog's leader. And you got
to blend those two. And the more that you lead
them and the more that you hold them accountable
with that leadership, setting clear expectations
and then holding them accountable for them, it
builds your relationship to where your dog's
like, yeah. Come back? Okay, cool. What are we
doing next? Rather than, no, no, I'm not coming
because there's a squirrel. There's a goose over
there. I'm not coming back. That goose is awesome.
I want to go check that out. You don't have a
hope in the world of getting them to come back
because you're boring or you're not a leader
or you're not fun or you're not whatever. Dogs
are always going to be that op. opportunistic
animal. And it's like, if you don't, yeah, I'm
super, super off on a rabbit hole now. But one
of the ways I'll, I'll just finish with this.
One of the ways, and I'm mostly talking to like
my clients that are like listening right now,
a new way that I've started explaining some of
the like recall and obedience. pet owners is
this. To get a dog to come back to you, to get
a dog to sit, to get a dog to down, to get a
dog to listen to you, you require whatever, if
we put it into dollars and currency so that it
makes sense, if you ask the dog for a $20 task,
whatever that is, let's say it's come. It costs
you $20 of something of this dog attention currency
to break the dog's cycle of whatever it is that
they're thinking of and turn towards you and
come back to you. You have the ability to either
provide a $20 reward. That entices the dog is
like, oh, cool. I'm going to come and get that.
Or you have to build $15 worth of relationship
so that then you only need a $5 reward. That
$5 reward might just be good boy. Oh, good job.
But the reason why that now works. is because
you built a relationship that fills the other
$15 worth of void. And that relationship is,
hey, I love doing stuff with my mom. I love doing
stuff with my dad. I just can't wait to do the
next thing, whatever it is, because it's so exciting
and I love my life. That is $15 worth of your
$20 ask, if that makes sense. Yeah. Hopefully
it does. All right. All right. Now we're back
on track. Back to place. All right. So things
that you can use place for in real life. I'm
getting a side eye. So you can use it during
mealtimes to prevent begging or crowding. Always
a big one with dogs like hovering around the
table, right? Yeah. Sending them to place. It's
going to be a great one. When guests arrive to
prevent jumping and overexcitement, people. inevitably
all the time we see clients and it's always dogs
pummeling guests right yeah huge one of does
your dog have a place but does he go to their
place building in that guest protocol where it's
doorbell rings dog goes to place yep and we can
we can do that easily these days yeah doorbells
you can pretty much ring them on your phone a
lot of times yeah um And and even if not, you
can create a distraction. You, you know, slip
a hand outside, ring the doorbell and then act
like you're going to get it. And the dog doesn't
just go to place and come off place as soon as
the guest comes in. Right. If your dog is level
10 excited when a guest comes in, that dog has
to stay on place until they are brought down
to like a one or a two or whatever is an acceptable.
level of excitement for the guest because if
they come off at a 10 of their place they're
just gonna be at a 10 or a 12 by the time they
get to the guest yeah definitely um using it
during kids play time or busy household moments
to create calm structure that's a really big
one like we have a lot of dogs that we see like
with kids and things like that where they're
not the most comfortable with kids or you know
they just don't like kids or any of that um they
just don't like you know guests coming over all
of those things can be managed with a place bed
giving that space to your dog and saying hey
this is your space to go relax while all this
chaos is going on you don't have to participate
in it yeah and the dog Feeling like that is their
option and their choice to be like, cool, I'm
going to go over here and relax. Yeah. Gives
them that security to not be stressed about the
situation because dogs a lot of times don't want
to be involved in the chaos. You see a dog ping
ponging off of people in like a house party or
whatever it is, a family get together because
the dog is excited by all the energy going on.
Yeah. Getting them a place bed to go to gets
them out of that energy level. And brings them
down to where they need to be. Right. And we
can gradually increase the distractions. Yeah.
As we build proficiency in that. Yeah. So then
having people walk up and pet your dog while
they're on place is actually a reality instead
of just like a pipe dream. Yep. Release patterns.
Let's talk about those. So when we build a release
with a dog, it's really important of how we pattern
that. And the reason is because of classical
conditioning. So classical conditioning is the
process of creating something the dog doesn't
have control over but can predict something that's
important to the dog. The Pavlov's dogs was an
example of classical conditioning where he rang
the bell and the dogs then got the food. And
they rang the bell and then gave him the food.
And after a whole bunch of times, the dogs did
not have control over the fact that when they
heard the bell, they began salivating because
they predicted that the food was about to arrive.
Now, we can use that same concept for the place
bed release in that instead of releasing the
dog from a distance across the room and randomly
just being like, okay, you're free, go ahead
and get up. Instead, we can do either a contact
release or proximity release is what we would
call it. What that means is where I walk to the
dog and then either touch them, like on the head
like give them a pet and say okay now you can
get up or that would be a contact release where
i actually physically touch them and then release
them or proximity meaning i walk directly to
them and then once i'm within that one arm's
distance then i release them what that does is
the you walking over there becomes the precursor
to the release that's really important because
otherwise the dog will predict or self -release
more often Because they'll be like, I think he
said free. I think I heard it. I heard it. And
they come running off and they're like, yeah,
I heard it, right? And you're like, no. And then
you have to go back and put them on place. So
we can avoid that by only releasing our dogs
once after we have walked up towards them and
either touch them if you're using a contact release
or you've gotten very close to them as a proximity
release. That way they will. Only predict that
release is coming at the point where you've walked
all the way up to them. Yeah. I think that's
a much more successful strategy than releasing
your dog across the room. All right. I am looking
at this. What signs show that? What would you
be looking for in the dog as proof? that we can
start building longer durations what are you
looking for i mean i'm looking for a quite significant
string of like successful reps of them and usually
i build it out right i i build in like some quick
yes or continuation markers and then give them
free so i will kind of increase it with that
Along with adding just like one to two steps
into my distance and making sure those are successful
before I move on to like letting go of the leash
or anything like that. So yeah, I kind of build
in duration and distance at the same time, but
only like one to two steps at a time. So typically
I'll take one step back. mark with a yes step
forward and as they're eating the treat still
i will then take two steps and then i will mark
and move forward and and reward so that way i'm
getting some distance while the dog is pretty
much distracted by eating the treat in the very
very beginning so then i can build that distance
and duration at the same time but i'm talking
like Right. And like many steps. And if the dog
breaks, when I take two steps back, I go back
to taking one step back and I rep that out a
couple of times. Yeah. So that's right. You alluded
to my favorite way to build duration is actually
to rely on distance first. And so what that distance
you people hear distance. They're like, oh, yeah,
like across the room. And I'm like, no, no, no.
Like one to two steps. Yeah. Because the amount
of time that it takes you to take that one or
two steps back automatically starts to build
those small little micro duration increases.
Yeah. And movement always attracts dogs. So by
you moving back and them holding that impulse
control and not leaving their place bed. You
can immediately move forward and I can start,
I can basically do three things at once, right?
My distance is building duration and it's also
conditioning that proximity release. So by me
backing up and never releasing them while I'm
away from them, they start to see that, oh, regardless
of how much he backs up, I have to wait until
he walks back forward. So that's really helpful.
Number two, the slower I walk, I can use the
same amount of distance, but I can still increase
the duration. And so I can use my win on the
distance side or on the distance metric here
to actually increase the duration at the same
time. So yeah, that's the science behind it.
Okay. Uh, I am going to, that's my last point
that I've got for tonight on the place bed. I've
got two listener projects, but before we jump
into that, I'm going to, um, play my jeopardy
music and, I'm going to open it up for questions.
Anybody has a question? I'm going to unmute everybody
here. What do we got? Happy new year, everybody.
Yeah. Happy New Year. Hey, Heidi. Hey, I have
a question. We have two place beds in the house.
OK. Is it should we be calling both of them a
place better? Do you think that's creating confusion
for Maverick? So I think it would only be confusing
if you're if you're using only the verbal and
just being like, go to your place. I think that
if you're using any type of body language that
I've never had major issues with that. If I just
most of the dogs that we run through any of our
programs, we do use multiple place beds in like
a living room setup. We'll have like four or
five and I'll have them go place over here and
I'll point to it and then place over there and
I'll point to it place over here because the
way that I want to use place. Hey, what I'm pointing
to here, I want you to put your paws on it and
stay there. Yeah. Gotcha. And so I will almost
never just send a dog to place with verbal only.
And the reason for that is because I use it interchangeably
and I can use it with my dogs at the point where
they fully understand it. I can. point to a couch
cushion or on a chair or on a bench. And I can
be like place and tap on like a picnic bench
and they'll jump up on the picnic bench and then,
you know, lay down or, or put their paws there
and, and stand there. That is how I like to use
place. So I don't think that you are, I don't
think you need a whole nother command unless
that. works for you and, and you want to have
a different command. No, that makes sense. Cool.
Thank you. Yeah, no problem. I hope that Maverick
feels better with his, his poor, I saw a picture
of him earlier. He looked so sad. But I know
he'll pull through, right? He's got the cone,
the cone of shame. But he'll pull through. He'll
be good. I'm sure he will. All right. Does anybody
else have a question tonight? All right. I'm
going to jump in. Feel free to jump. jump in
here if you're working on finding the the mute
button i'm gonna jump into listener projects
uh listener project number one so we we actually
detailed this uh pretty well but introduction
to place if you um when you're when you're using
place and so i'll refer back to kind of our initial
instructions The project here is actually going
to be try to incorporate a toy or chew or an
activity for a dog to only get to do on their
place bed. And so what that looks like is you,
uh, you place, uh, let's talk about like a little
chew bone or something. So I'll take these, we
use the Himalayan yak chews or the, the yak cheese
chews a lot. Um, cause they're very, very simple,
very highly digestible. Um, there's only like
three ingredients in them. So they, I'll take
one of those and I'll put it on the place bed
and then dog goes onto the place. your dog grabs
the toy or the treat or whatever and leaves the
place bed, you just quietly walk over, take it
away from them, and just put it right back on
their place bed. You don't even have to say anything.
About two or three times of that, the dog's like,
well, I'm tired of you taking that thing away
from me. But every time, they just keep dropping
it right back here on the place. It doesn't take,
I have, I have never seen it take very long for
a dog to be like, okay, I'll just eat it here.
Yeah. Right. It's like, well, they're not taking
it away from me when I'm eating it on here. So
I'll just eat it right here. Boom. That, that
is the whole enchilada right there. Yeah. So
super easy to incorporate. You can, you can introduce
the place bed the way that we talked about earlier
in the episode. And then you can use it in that
way. Project number two, three minute calm session.
Place your dog on the bed and stay nearby in
the same room. And then just reward the dog periodically
as they stay calm and relaxed. So using that
distance, that duration that we were talking
about, just walk away a little bit, hold it,
and then walk back to the dog and drop a little
treat right on their place bed. Yep. Let them
eat it. And then just work through that. You
can slowly build up that duration until you get
to about that three minute mark. Three to five
minutes is a good amount to start with before
you start making things too complicated. So try
to make it to that three minute mark. Release.
We use free as a treat release. And then the
dog flies back to us. grabs that treat from us
and then is able to do whatever they want so
uh we use so go ahead and release a dog with
free and but make sure that we're only really
releasing the dog when we're building duration
we don't want to release the dog while they're
doing the little tippy tappy like pause right
while they're like vibrating because a guest
is over that's a bad time to just release your
dog because they're just gonna fly off of there
yeah so Wait for the calm, wait for those, that
relaxation and then release and watch how your
dog's body language stays much, much more calm.
Yep. All right. That is all I've got for episode
15. Uh, thank you for joining us tonight. I'm
going to sign off of here pretty quickly. Um,
we got next week. I'm trying to remember what
is coming up next week. I think it's sitting
down. Yeah. So we're going through the rest of
the obedience commands. We're going to talk about
sitting down and incorporating those. They'll
kind of incorporate back in here to place and
stuff. But at the end of the day, my biggest,
biggest thing is that you've got to build your
relationship with your dog. If you don't build
that relationship, you're not going to have that
currency that you can exchange for your dog's
behavior. Yeah. All right. All right. that's
all i got thanks guys for tuning in thanks good
night we'll see you next week