“It will fix jumping.”

Begging. Chewing. Pottying in the house. All sorts of bad habits.

That’s what we used to tell dog owners that we worked with. Thankfully… we don’t do that anymore.

Because it’s largely not true.

The “Place” command is a popular command, essentially telling a dog to go sit or lie down on a dog bed or cot until they are told that they can get up.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with it… except the fact that for *most owners* it’s a massive waste of time.

Because teaching the place command does not teach your dog to greet your guests politely.

It does not teach them to stop begging, or to ask you to go potty outside. It doesn’t fix aggression, and it doesn’t teach them to stop stealing household items.

It does teach a dog to go to a spot and stay in a spot (if they are trained well enough to get that good at it!).

What we found though, is that largely, the command is often used to keep a dog in one place, and doesn’t directly teach them how to actually make good choices at liberty (meaning, they’ll still do the bad behavior when they are off of the “place”). We’ve seen it happen over and over again. A dog, waiting eagerly on their bed to be released from it… only to run up and jump all over a guest immediately once they are free. Often, it turns into a frustrating game of chasing the dog down to put them back on the bed after they’ve shown that they don’t actually know how to behave at all unless they are stuck there.

Part of our job is making dog training as easy as possible for dog owners to be successful with… and it turns out… it takes less time to teach a dog to greet guests politely while loose, than it does to teach them “Place” well enough to ignore the temptation of saying hello to their favorite visitor.

Instead of teaching a dog to ignore temptation and stay on a bed… and also teach a dog how to behave when off the bed… we figured… won’t it take less time to just ditch one of those things entirely and teach the dog to behave so that they don’t even need the bed? So that dog owners don’t have to worry about putting their dog back on the bed a thousand times and still have their dog getting into trouble anytime they are free from the bed?

So that’s exactly what we did. We (mostly) ditched the “Place” command. We still teach it to about 10% of the dog owners we work with, but most of the time, we don’t find that it actually helps the dog owners we work with reach their goals faster.

Here are some things that we don’t use the “Place” command for anymore:

Teaching a dog to stop jumping or being mouthy with guests
Potty training
Chewing household items
Countersurfing or begging
Door darting or escaping the house

Here are some things we might use the “Place” command for:

Teaching patience to a dog who struggles to relax
A tool to help manage household aggression between two dogs
A “safe zone” for dogs who might be shy or anxious about guests being in their space
Building confidence in a dog who needs help feeling comfortable stepping up onto raised surfaces.

While we don’t believe there is anything “wrong” with using or teaching this command… we also don’t believe it’s a real solution so some of the challenges that dog owners face every day.

So… if you decide that you don’t care and don’t want to go teach your dog to lay on a bed… the good news is that absolutely nothing bad will happen as a result of that choice. You can see great results in changing your dog’s behavior without it.

When you think of a reward, in regards to training a dog, what is the first thing that pops into your head?

Food?

Maybe a tennis ball?

A game of tug?

Maybe your mind went where I'm already going with this and you thought of something more complicated.

The fact remains, that reward reinforces a behavior. It increases the likelihood of seeing a behavior happen again, and again, and again.

So why does your dog only listen sometimes, even though they've gotten treats, pets, and toys what seems like a thousand times for doing the "right" thing?

Your dog is the dog who will listen like a dream... if you have a treat in your hand.

But how do you help them behave reliably without having to carry a cookie in your pocket for the rest of your life?

That answer partially lies in how exactly you are taking advantage of reward opportunities.

1.When your dog is jumping up, whining, maybe even barking because you've just got home from work.

2. When your dog is pulling on the leash to go sniff the tree in your neighbors yard.

3. When your dog is attacking the vacuum.

What does your dog want *in the moment* of each of these?

1. Your dog wants your attention. They want to be close to you. YOU are the reward.

2. Your dog wants to examine and study that tree. The sniffing is the reward.

3. Your dog likely wants the vacuum to stop moving, to stop making that awfully scary sound. The reward is exactly that. The vacuum once again becoming motionless and "dead".

Rewards increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated, good or bad.

Use the smelly grass spot at the park as a reward, use your attention, movement, and eye contact. Use your guests as a reward.

Having the leash put on, being let out of the kennel, being let out the doorway, into or out of the car, being allowed to approach and sniff something, their daily meals, something scary going away.

Rewards are endless. The most powerful one is the one your dog wants in a single moment.

Be conscious of the behavior and energy your dog is giving off when receiving a reward. Those behaviors and that energy is what will be reinforced in the future. #rewardwhatmatters

Why we (mostly) stopped teaching the "Place" command.

A reward is a reward is a reward...