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Settle skills
How to teach "place" at home
Place is the most useful behavior a household dog can have. It gets the dog off the guests, out from under the dinner table, away from the door when the courier knocks and onto something familiar when the fireworks start over Gloucester Harbor. It is also easy to teach badly, by demanding too long too soon.
What you need
What you need: a raised cot, a release word and a lot of small rewards
A raised cot works better than a bed for teaching because it has an edge: the dog knows exactly when it is on and when it is off, and a cot travels to the porch, the campsite and a friend's kitchen. A folded towel works once the dog understands the game. Treats, tiny and plentiful, because the first week pays out constantly. A release word you rarely say otherwise, 'break' or 'free' rather than 'okay'.
You also need a plan for the three D's: duration, distance and distraction. Only one goes up at a time. When you add a step away, the time drops back to a few seconds. When you add the kids running past, you stand next to the cot again. Owners who raise two at once get a dog that leaves the cot, and every departure without a release teaches the dog that place is optional.
- A raised cot with a clear edge, or a mat once the dog knows the game
- Pea-sized treats, 30 or more per session
- A release word you rarely say otherwise
- One of duration, distance or distraction raised at a time, never two
The method
The method: paws on, down, then duration, distance and distraction one at a time
Start by making the cot the best place in the room. Toss a treat onto it, say nothing, and mark the moment a paw lands. Pay on the cot, then say the release word and toss a treat off it so the dog leaves on cue. Once the dog is hopping on to see what happens, add the word 'place' as it steps up. When it goes to the cot on the word from a few feet away, ask for a down and pay the down.
Duration is built by feeding on the cot at slowing intervals: every two seconds, then five, then ten, then a random mix. Distance comes next, one step back and return to pay, then two, then a lap of the kitchen, always returning to the cot to pay and to release. Distraction is last: the fridge opens, a family member walks through, a doorbell recording plays quietly. Each new distraction, shorten the time and stand closer.
- 01
Toss a treat onto the cot, mark the first paw that lands, pay on the cot, then release with your word and a treat tossed off
- 02
Add the word 'place' as the dog steps up, and send it from one step, then three, then across the room
- 03
Ask for a down on the cot and pay it, then feed at intervals of two, five and ten seconds while the dog holds
- 04
Add distance: one step away and back to pay, building to a lap of the room, releasing from beside the cot each time
- 05
Add distractions one at a time at low intensity, shortening the duration each time something new appears
- 06
Take the cot to a new room, the porch and a friend's house, and start each new place from step one
Where it goes wrong
Where it goes wrong: asking for ten minutes on day two and forgetting the release
The commonest mistake is asking for too long before the dog understands the game. A dog that leaves the cot after 40 seconds on day two was not being disobedient; the duration was raised faster than it was paid for. Go back to two-second intervals. The second mistake is forgetting the release: the dog wanders off when it feels like it, and the behavior becomes 'lie here for a bit' rather than 'stay until told'.
Punishing the dog for leaving the cot teaches it that the cot is where bad things happen, which is the opposite of what a settle spot should be. If the dog steps off, say nothing, guide it back with a treat or the leash, and shorten the ask. And do not use place as a time-out for bad behavior; the cot has to stay the place where good things arrive, every single time.
- Raising duration, distance or distraction faster than you pay for it
- Skipping the release, so the dog leaves on its own schedule
- Scolding the dog for stepping off: the cot becomes a place to avoid
- Practising only in the kitchen and expecting it at the front door
The Cape Ann version
The Cape Ann version: Fiesta week, the July 3 fireworks and the courier at a summer rental
The Gloucester calendar hands you the distractions. St. Peter's Fiesta in late June fills the Fort with music and brings house guests through every door on the peninsula; the July 3 fireworks over the harbor rattle windows across the city; the Schooner Festival on Labor Day weekend does it again. A cot in a quiet back room becomes the fireworks plan the AVMA recommends: a familiar, safe spot the dog chose to love before the noise started.
Summer on Cape Ann also means deliveries and visitors at odd hours, especially in a rental or beside a short-term tenant. Practice place with the door as the target: send the dog to the cot, walk to the door, touch the handle, come back and pay. Build to opening it. By the time the courier comes up Eastern Ave in August the cot has a hundred reps behind it, which is what holds when the knock comes.
When to hand it to us
When to hand it to us: place is on the Foundation list, and in every private session
Place, stay and recall are the first items on the one-week Foundation board and train, and household manners are built into the Dean's List Canine Campus, a four-week hybrid with pick-up and drop-off. In a private session from $94, Gabriella Pope, our Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist, teaches place in your own kitchen with your own doorbell. Every program is fear- and force-free and ends with a go-home lesson so the cot keeps working.
Hand it over when the dog cannot settle at all, pacing and whining rather than lying down, when guests trigger barking or jumping the cot cannot hold, when the fireworks plan needs to be ready in weeks and you are starting late, or when place is one item on a longer list. Calm & Connected suits the adolescent or new rescue whose impulse control is the real problem. Tell us through the training form; expect a reply within one hour on a business day.
At Dogtown
Where place gets taught
The Foundation stay, Canine Campus and private sessions with Gabriella Pope all build place, fear- and force-free, from $94 per session.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
What is the difference between place and stay?
Can I use my dog's bed as the place?
How much duration should I build into place?
My dog leaves the cot the moment I turn my back. Why?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
One cot, every occasion.
Send the training form and tell us where you need place to hold: the door, the dinner table or the fireworks. We reply within one hour on business days.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
