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Can you send your dog to a specific location? A kennel, a dog bed, or some other location?
What cue do you use to send them to the specific location? What is your expectation when you say that cue?
When I first bring a new dog home, whether it is a puppy, an adolescent dog or an adult dog, one of the first things I teach them is Kennel Up. That's my cue to go to their crate or kennel.
My expectation for Kennel Up is to go into their kennel, sit or lie down and remain there until I either release them or I close the door.
Once my dogs are settled in and able to be left out of their crates when left alone, then I use that cue a lot less. But I still want to be able to send them somewhere to settle down. So I teach my dogs different locations. One if those is their Mat.
My cue is On Your Mat, and it's a mat that is easy to transport when traveling or move around the house so I can change it's location as needed. I can also send them to their dog beds, but those are not as easy to move around.
On Your Mat means go to your mat, sit or lie down, and remain there until I release you. So in some sense, On Your Mat is a Stay but in a specific location. Go to that location first and then hold a Stay.
Since I am expecting more than just going to the location, this is a complex behavior or a behavior chain. There is more than one piece to it. So I break it into its parts and teach it in stages.
First, my dogs should go to the mat.
Second, my dogs should Sit or Down on the mat.
Third, my dogs should hold a Stay on the mat, but without me saying Stay. Since my On Your Mat cue implies a stay once they settle on the mat, I do not say Stay. If I did, then I would be moving on to the next cue and they would no longer be doing the On Your Mat.
Finally, I release them. My release word is Go.
So there are really four parts to this cue. I break it into steps so that they can be successful.
Since my dogs already know Kennel Up, they really already understand the concept. We are just transferring something they already know but to a new location with a new cue.
In these videos, I demonstrate how I go about teaching On Your Mat.
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