Have you ever gone into a store and admired the sweet dog hanging out on her bed? Guess what her person taught her? Targeting a place, first of all, and then “down” and “stay.”
Once your dog can stay on her rug or in her crate, life is more fun for both of you, because you can take your dog places and tell her to hang out on her rug.
Teaching a dog to go to a specific spot is a form of targeting, so read our Targeting page before you go on.
On your rug, in your crate
As in targeting your hand or an object, motion is the way to get your dog to focus on a place. This time you use your whole body: walk over the rug and encourage your dog to follow. When your dog is on the rug, click and treat.
Then take different paths to the rug. Your dog will figure out the one constant: rug = treat. When you see the light bulb go on, add the word “rug”—we like to say “on your rug.” As always, stop the training while it is still fun, and practice again another day.
Once you have a strong “rug” target, you can use the rug—or a small target such as a stick or toy—to teach your dog to go to her crate. Place the target near the crate and send your dog to it. Put the target closer and closer until reaching the target puts her all the way in the crate. Then associate that behavior with “in your crate” and gradually remove the other target. (Learn how to train your dog to love the crate)
Stay in an area
You may want to teach your dog to stay in an area: on a blanket, on one side of the room, out of the room, and so on. As long as you can envision a line between where you want the dog to be and where you want her not to go, she can learn pretty quickly to mind the line. Basically, you teach her where Yes is and where No is.
For Yes, point to the blanket, pat on the blanket. When she walks onto it, give her a soft, friendly “yes.”
If the dog tries to go into No territory, you do what the pack leader would do: Use your body to block the move. No words are necessary. Keep your posture straight and use your lower body (mainly your hips) to direct her to stay on the blanket or on her side of the room. Block the line the way a goalie blocks a goal. It won’t take long for your dog to realize what you are doing.
