Training Puppies To Stay

Training your puppy to stay is an essential behavior they can use their whole life. Also called place training, teaching your puppy where they can go, and when, can help keep them well-mannered and safe. Learn from Mike Stewart of Wildrose Kennels and see how he ensures puppies understand place training right from the start.

Introduction To Place Training : Video Transcript

Mike Stewart: Place, I consider it an essential behavior. Something that we should get right, right from the start with a pup, because it's going to be a behavior that's going to be usable the entire life of the dogs. They don't get free roam of the home and it can have lots of different variables.

You could have different sizes, different heights, but we're going to show you two or three different types of places, but this is the best one to start them on. A raised platform, gives them a defined area. He will see the edges of this and stay within those edges of that bed. Now these are plastic, so it doesn't encourage chewing, as opposed to a mat like this, which it could chew the corners.

The first thing we want to do is get little young Amos here acclimated to getting on place. Place. As he does the behavior, I say place. Another little trick we do, is we do not call the puppy off place. We want to encourage him to stay within the lines. Now we're going to move about just a little bit. Everything is done in very small pieces, not big sweeping movements.

I can't just drop this lead and walk out the room and expect Amos to stay there. We're going to move just a step and encourage him to stay using the lead. We take a step. Good lad, good stay. While you're teaching this, and now we gradually lay the lead down. Will he stay? And just take one step.

Slowly we'll move further and further away. But if he would've moved off this place, as he just did, he just violated the command. So we're going to have to put him back on that place and repeat the command. Sit and stay. If he was to get off, there's really no correction. It's through repetition and consistency that you build a habit.

Amos is moving around a bit on the bed, that doesn't concern me at this age. He doesn't have to lie down perfectly or sit, as long as he stays on the bed. No feet should come off. If they do, put them back. If we want to try to transfer this skill to another type of dog bed, that's maybe more mobile or something maybe more comfortable, simply lay your mat on top of the one that he's acclimated to already.

Place. Look at this. Amos picks right up on the new place. So now we can transfer this around the room. Out. Let's see how we do this. We put this on the floor now. Place. And we've taught him a new place. How many places can you have at home? As many as you want. One at each different room, that's fine, but always try to have them in the same location. They really like to have their spot and they know where that spot is.

We also don't want to call the puppy off place from across the room. We want the puppy to stay steady there. Always return back to your pup, reward for a good stay. Good lad, good stay. And instruct him to leave. Out, out. For travel, you can use the behavior that you taught on one type of platform to another, such as a mat. If you lie the mat completely down flat to begin with, on the floor, it gives them no defined edge. But should we put it on top of his known location, where he had been using as his bed, we can teach him to get on the new mat.

Amos, Amos, come on. Good boy. Now he's on his new mat. Amos is now comfortable with his mat. He's ready to start traveling. This mat can come off the place and start moving around with us to hotels, to lodges, any place we choose to go. Place is an essential behavior that you should get right, right from the start.