28/01/2023
TEACHING HOW TO STAY ON A PLACE MAT I'm going to do a quick instructional video on this, this week but here's a written version of how to get started with this great exercise: First, head to the local bargain shop and pick up one of those ten buck mats. You can see Ioan here sitting on one in the picture. Some people like to use a little raised bed on legs, as it provides a more defined place for the dog. I don't. I can't be bothered and the dogs are perfectly capable of learning to target a mat. The TRICK with this exercise is particularly in the beginning, don't leave it on the floor but make it the best place in the world when you have it out. When finished a training session, PICK IT UP AND PUT IT AWAY. Why? Because it's a trained obedience exercise. Not a place for them to come and go at will. LATER (or if you train your pup to stay on a place from when you first get them home) you can just leave it on the floor. In fact, I train it so that you can ask your dog to simply stay in one place anywhere, mat or no mat. But these days my dogs are savvy enough training-wise that I just leave it on the floor and send them to it when required. BUT IF I SEND THEM TO IT WITH THE CUE 'LIE DOWN' THEY MUST NOT GET UP UNTIL I RELEASE THEM. To begin, play game with the dog. Toss a treat on the mat and mark when they step on it with a 'Good', 'Yes', other marker word or a clicker (go online and look up clicker training, you can use a marker word rather than a click which I do with most of my clients, so you don't have to carry a clicker around). Throw a treat to the mat, mark it when the dog steps on it. Then next, when the dog is running to the bed and waiting for the throw, put a cue on it. Often people say 'on your mat' or 'bed' or whatever. I just say 'Lie down'. For me, I want it very distinctive from the 'drop' command which I use in other sport training with my dogs. Now the dog is seeing the mat as a good place, though they are just running to it and standing there. Go to the mat and lure your dog into a drop position, or ask them to drop on it if they know this command. THEN mark and reward. Repeat many times. Soon the dog will run to the bed and drop. Now you need DURATION - gradually extend the time your dog is on the mat, waiting for the reward. At this stage introduce a new 'cue' in the form of FREE, which releases the dog from the mat. Then mark and reward (confusing I know but think about it. The 'Yes' marker says you've got it right to the dog. The 'Free' is a command. It releases the dog. You can go FREE and if they get up and come to you, mark and reward. See? . Remember, this is an obedience exercise. When your dog can run to the bed and drop on the command of 'lie down' or 'on your mat and you then say FREE and they get up if they want to, you are on track to moving to the next step and have passed through the 'teaching phase' to a degree. The dog understands the basic mechanics of the exercise. Next.... proof it. Fido needs to understand they can't just get up and leave. How? Well firstly, it's critical that you move through lengthening the time your dog is on the mat slowly. Why? Two things happen. One, the dog is Classically Conditioned (also called Pavlovian Conditioning, look it up) to feel good about staying in that place. They will want to stay there as they feel almost the same about it as the reward and it is a predictable behaviour - dogs love predictability. Two, they are still getting that treat reward for doing so and reinforcing this. So don't rush it. When Fido knows this well, you now begin to 'proof' the exercise. Previously, if Fido got up, simply NO REWARD. I could go into no reward markers here but let's keep it simple. Just withold reward, reposition yourself and ask him to do it again, rewarding for success. NOW when you are sure they know the exercise, if they get up, take them by the collar and gently put them back. Basically, insist they stay there. You can also do this by putting a lead on them ( you should still be close to the dog during this time). Back they go if they get off, until you say FREE. Remember to reward both going to the mat and lying down and the release of FREE. They are learning two things here so take your time and don't expect miracles. TIME means everything in dog training. Lots of shorts sessions of a couple of minutes over weeks. No magic tricks here. NEXT, keep proofing the exercise. Begin to more around, around the dog. Take steps away. If the dog gets up, check you haven't leapt too far ahead. NOTE: This is a brief description only. Every dog trainer trains this exercise differently but the end result needs to be a dog that happily will stay in one place when you ask them to. This brief description will start you off only. There are speed humps along the way, let me assure you, as every dog is different and some are more compliant than others. You can also use more advanced techniques such as negative reinforcement, opposition reflex activation etc. to get this really solid but for me, I use the KISS principle. I want a happy, relaxed 'lie down' on the mat. I will do a video where I can discuss in more detail, once I get through my other work this week :-) PS edited to add you don't need to give your dog a treat reward forever. You should be able to get this right so that the dog LIKES doing the exercise and you can build it up so the dog understands that even in the place of big distractions such as the doorbell, they MUST stay there. The reward? A pat and praise after 'free'.
