The Common-sense Dog

By STEPHANIE VICHINSKY

We all know how hard it is to get kids to nap during the day or go to sleep at bedtime, but if we keep the child still and take away external stimuli, very often their bodies will relax and fall asleep.

The “place” command is very similar in dogs. Place command tells the dog to go to its bed. We can ask the dog to lie down when it gets there and hold it. In the beginning, we do this exercise with food, luring the dog onto its bed so it understands the command, and it’s very fun for the dog, but we all know training with food hits a plateau eventually.

So, what happens after that? Well, it’s no different than when we finish the last bedtime story with our kids, take the music away, movies away, etc. The dogs and kids realize that the tone has changed, and they usually try to resist.

This is where the real work starts. Remaining consistent is critical at this stage. When your dog realizes there are no more rewards and tries to leave place command, simply walk them back with a leash and have them lie down again. This may take dozens of repetitions. While doing this exercise, the dog has to practice impulse control (and for some dogs, that’s extremely challenging, especially if they have problem behaviors.)

Dogs with zero training live their lives on instinct and impulse, which is why we often see fear, anxiety, aggression, and hyperactivity. They react without thinking through their decisions.

This command allows us to create calmness in our dogs and cultivate that calm until it becomes a lifestyle. By creating calmness with this command (with and without distractions), we can transfer it anywhere. We can ask our dogs to place or down in public places like the farmer’s market or pet store and know that they associate this position with a calm mental state.

This applies to all dogs, but the place command has special power for fearful, anxious, or aggressive dogs. The first step to training is slowing the dog’s mind until it almost falls asleep. Problem dogs cannot be rehabilitated in a heightened state. The information they desperately need to absorb will not break through the adrenalin. For example: a fearful dog will never believe its environment is non-threatening until we have calmed their nerves and reduced the adrenalin. It’s only then that they can truly observe their surroundings and relearn.

Trainers often give themselves too much credit with these cases. While we can set up the environment to be perfect for learning, we cannot reach inside the dog and change the way they perceive the world. That’s no different than trying to reach inside a child to make them sleep. It’s entirely up to the dog once we have set everything in place.

The timeline is different for every dog. Some dogs acclimate to this exercise almost instantly and others take days or weeks. Stay consistent and trust the process.

Happy training!

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Stephanie Vichinsky is the owner/head trainer of Method K9 in Post Falls.