Preparing Your Dog For Thanksgiving (Place Command)
Preparing Your Dog For Thanksgiving
(Teaching The Beginning Phases Of The “Place” Command)
Thanksgiving is right around the corner which is somewhat terrifying yet also exciting. I feel like we were in the peak of summer doing our best to not melt & I woke up one morning to trick or treaters at the door. Don’t get me wrong I love Halloween, but I LOVE Thanksgiving even more & for good reason. If you’re a dog owner like me you are more excited about the quality time spent with your pets & family then you are about the food. Some of you though may dread the holiday season due to all the shiny, tasty temptations your dog will most definitely be drooling over.
Table temptations are nothing new to dog owners & as dog trainers this is a topic we frequent with our clients. You may have your dogs cravings & counter curiosity under control (most of the time) but Thanksgiving is stimulus overload. The last thing you want is your Thanksgiving to end like the movie Christmas Story. You know exactly which scene I’m describing & if not, don’t worry television will air the movie non stop for like 2 months.
Think about it from a dogs perspective, the humans are preparing dinner, entertaining guests & enjoying some holiday spirits. Frequently moving from the kitchen to the dining room, from the football game to the Macy’s day parade, the humans are distracted. This is a perfect time for your dog to test the limits & if you’re not prepared you may be ordering take out.
So how do we prepare ourselves & our dogs for a successful Thanksgiving? Obviously as dog trainers we recommend adding some extra obedience training & focusing on adding to the three D’s of dog training, Distance, Distraction & Duration. Maybe even a few extra commands/behaviors. One of our favorites for the holiday season is the “Place” command.
The “Place” command is a behavior we teach our dogs to “Go To Place.” We use a dog bed, place mat, or somewhere that your dog can learn to lay & wait patiently. Obviously teaching the “Place” command is a little more complex then we can truly put into a post & we recommend that if you are having any difficulties to seek out a professional. Watch the quick video below to learn how we begin to teach “Place” to our dogs. If your dog is a rockstar & you don’t need to utilize the place command just keep scrolling to learn about dog safe foods.
To break down the video a little more into text, we will include these initial steps to begin teaching “Place”
Designate one specific comfortable item you can use as the “Place.” That can be either a raised pet cot (as you see in the video), a dog bed, blanket or something of similar structure.
Once you’ve designated what you will be using to begin the “Place” find a good location to leave the cot/bed that will be centralized & can be monitored. Remember this video is only to begin teaching the place so we aren’t asking the dog to stay there for an extended period of time just yet. Remember if you need any assistance with “Place” reach out to us & we’d be more than happy to help.
Choose a higher value treat/food that you can use to lure your dog. If you are using the higher calorie treats, make sure you are working shorter sessions as some training treats in excess can be unhealthy if subbed out for food. That’s why we condition our dogs to “work” for their daily dog food.
Begin your training session by letting your dog know you have the treats. Put several treats in your palm & close your hand. Call your dog over to you & reward them with a treat. Repeat the process but with your closed hand, only allow them to smell and lick so they know the treats are present but are only rewarded when they complete what we are asking them to do. As trainers I like to use a marker by saying “Yes” every time they’ve completed their behavior. You can also use a clicker.
Let your dog get distracted & call them back over. Once they make it to you, lure them to your hand, let their nose touch your closed fist, mark with a “Yes” and feed them a treat. This is also helping build up their focus & recall.
Now that you’ve got your dogs attention, let’s start by luring them onto the place mat or bed. They may be hesitant at first, so stay patient. Get your dog to put one or two paws onto the mat, mark with a “yes” then reward. Continue this process several times. As your dog becomes more willing to touch the mat, ask for them to now put all 4 paws on the mat, mark & reward. Once they put all 4 paws on the mat several times end the session for now with several treats.
Now your starting your next session, your dog is comfortably coming off & on the mat, let’s start luring them into a sit, then a down while they are on the mat. If they offer you a full down, mark with a “Yes” take two step away from the mat so they step off & give them a reward. If your dog is struggling to go into the down, get them into a sit, mark & reward.
Now that your dog is comfortably laying down with all elbows on the mat, reward by slowly dropping several treats onto the mat between both front paws. Allow them to eat those treats while they are in the down. Once you see they only have one or two treats left, take two steps back, mark & reward. (Note: if your dog stands up after placing the treats onto the mat, just reset & continue the process. You may also need to slow down your motion while placing those treats onto the mat)
This time your dog is comfortably stepping onto the mat, going down on all fours, staying in a down as you place the treats between their front legs, now I want you to offer a little less body language. Repeat the process until you feel they are comfortably understanding less body language & end this session.
This time lets go through all the above steps but this time I want you to wait to see if they offer the behavior on their own. Stay close to the mat, lure them with your hand onto the mat, & see if they offer the down on their own. If they do that, then they are ready for you to take a step or two while they are in the “Place”
Now your building a solid foundation for place, remember to always have the dog enter the mat from different directions so they aren’t only conditioned to enter one specific way. Over time you will be able to guide your dog into “Place” from further distances, more distractions & more duration.
