Training a dog to stAy on her bed

[DangerCake]

We’ve got to the stage 6 month old puppy, where she’ll go to her bed if I have a treat to give her.

But she then immediately hops off.

We want to be able to train go to bed for when we empty the dishwasher or put shoes on, she has a shoe fetish.

You put her back, repeatedly, as boringly as you can. Praise her if she stays put. If you say 'no' as she gets off, mean it and be firm. Once she'll stay, release her - for example, call her to you.

Have you taught a stay? It's a really useful thing to have in place in general - I can leave my dog off-lead and go to the poo bin and know she won't move, for example.

She’ll stay if she’s lying down but not if anything more interesting is happening. And poo bags and bins are quite high value!

Persistence is the key then.

Not sure how much t9 expect at 6 months. She’s bright and wants t9 learn.

Only made one puppy class before lockdown unfortunately.

Persistence is definitely the key. And endless patience. She should manage a sit stay at six months, even with distractions. There is a great exercise called paper plate recall which teaches stay, send out and recall in one go - I'm about to go to work but I'll try and link it later.

Personally I don't think there's much point in saying no - just put her back and reiterate the command. You need to start building up the time before you give her her treat, so you put her on her bed, put her in her down and wait a few seconds then give the treat then build it up. Then start introducing distractions like other family members, shoes etc once she will stay there when it's boring

I tend to train this when the dog is in a position that they are happy and relaxed in.

So if your puppy is tired , you sit near the mat and t quietly put treats on the mat. Your puppy will show interest on the mat and will go to the mat,they may not even sit at this point No clickers, no command all quiet relaxed. Being quiet on the mat then treats appear. Your dog will sit and may go down on the mat if this happens increase the treats at this stage. Gradually and I mean gradually increase the length of time between the treats. DO NOT ask the puppy to go back onto the mat WHEN they sniff on the mat or show interest in the mat put a treat back on the mat. You will find they return to the mat on their own accord then jackpot with rewards but again calmly and no command.

This will probably take about 2 days to get to the stage when the puppy will choose to go on the mat - make sure you reward every time this happens to start with and at regular intervals when the puppy is on the mat.

This is really helpful. Thank you. Keep it coming!

I managed to find the post I based my training on:
cynography.blogspot.com/2009/10/paper-plate-recall-basics.html
The dog she is training in this post was rescued from shocking hoarder circumstances, and had had zero socialisation with people etc etc.

I first used this on my younger dog when she was about five months old, in the woods, with the inevitable distraction of loads of scent (she is very prey driven). It worked.

Stay training is little by little, step by step, gradually increasing the duration and distance. Very important tip: teach only one thing at a time. If you want a dog with a solid stay, don't EVER call them to you from it. Go to them and release them, tell them to 'go play' or 'break' or whatever. Teach the recall, 'come', separately or you make the job of teaching both exercises much harder for both of you.