Teaching your dog to understand the words 'Go to bed' to mean:
'When I hear those words, I go to my bed, relax and stay there until something's up. Nobody will hassle me when I'm on my bed.'
You can use this understanding to interrupt any irritating behaviour - not as a punishment, but as a "don't do that, do this". You can also use it if you need your dog out of the way, or out of trouble.
It's massively useful for all dogs of any age and is the first thing I formally teach mine. So here it is!
Prep:
Gather all the relevant ingredients.
- A prepared dog (not too full of beans - well walked (at least an hour), recently been to the loo, calm and attentive).
- A suitable bed. (Big enough for the dog to get his whole body - especially all four feet, onto, lying down, without any difficulty). It should also not be slippery. Some dog beds have a layer of nylon for warmth, this creates a slippery layer between the top and bottom, which can be off putting for some dogs.
- Position the bed in the room. Some dogs will want the bed in a corner, others will want it against a straight wall. The dog needs to be able to go away from the bed if needs be, so you’ll need to be able to also a corridor of space for the dog to move away if the pressure is too much or he becomes frightened. Some dogs will be too frightened if the bed is in a corner. Once you’ve taught your dog to go to bed, it will need to be placed somewhere away from foot traffic, in a quiet spot, and he must MUST be reliably left alone by everyone in the household whilst he’s there.
- Put together a selection of treats (either the dogs own kibble if it is of good quality, or chicken if it is not too exciting for your dog. You may well get a much more enthusiastic response from your dog using chicken, but it may be much harder to easily direct him than when using boring kibble.)
- Be prepared to not hand feed your dog. Hand feeding the treats will confuse the timing of what he thinks you want and will draw him off the bed - get good at throwing treats onto the bed.
Step 1:
Catch your dog’s attention, say nothing, drop a treat on the bed and wait. If he sits and looks at you, drop another treat and wait. Wait, wait, wait. Look expectantly at him and wait. If he moves on to the bed to get the treat, hurrah!! You can be very pleased and make a big fuss of him, but you will excite and confuse him, so it's best not to.
Drop twenty treats in succession on the bed, with a little pause between each one. He may wander off the bed at first, but he will try to save time and will eventually remain on the bed and wait for you to throw him another treat. If he stays on the bed, throw him another treat!
Repeat step 1 as many times a day as possible for three or four consecutive days. Your dog should be well on the way to understanding that the bed is where treats happen. Keep each session to about two minutes.
How do I know I have done enough? Your dog will completely understand to go to his bed when you stand near it looking expectantly.
Step 2:
We are now going to add your request phrase at the same time as you drop the treat "go to bed" or "on your bed" or "cabbage soup" anything you like. I recommend including the word 'Bed' as it is short and to the point.
The timing of this step is important - your dog has to slowly get to grips with your words meaning ‘A treat is coming if I am on this thing’. SO make sure you say BED as you drop the treat.
Repeat step 1 including your ‘Go to bed’ phrase. I like to say please and thank you to my dogs - they seem to like it! SO my bed phrase is simply ‘Bed please’.
Step 3:
Now change the timing of when you say your words to before you drop the treat on the bed.
“bed please’ pause, treat. As your dog goes to his bed, follow him and drop the treat. No need to say anything else - no 'good boy' or anything just yet.
Step 4:
Start saying go to bed from further away and from different positions.
At first, your dog will need you to be in a similar place, saying a similar word and doing a similar thing, so we need to build in some flexibility to his learning by beginning to mover around.
Step 5:
Ask your dog to remain on the bed.
There are two ways to achieve this. One is with an energy block as your dog starts to leave the bed, the other is by gradually extending the pause between the dog going to bed and receiving the treat.
Pitfalls:
Not preparing your dog adequately before you start.
Your dog will need to be calm enough to pay attention, so will need to have been to the toilet, had a good run and be relaxed and interested without being over the top excited.
Using a bed that is too small for the dog.
He needs to be able to get all four paws on the bed easily and lie down for it to make complete sense to him.
Trying to manoeuvre your dog on to the bed physically.
This gets thoroughly in the way of his learning. He is unlikely to understand what you want and is likely to learn to fear the bed or you being near the bed.
Giving up too easily.
All good animal training relies on passive, friendly, unemotional persistence that comes from knowing what you are looking for the dog to do. Know what you want, set it up so your dog can't help but get it right, wait until your dog does it, then reward him.
See below for examples of the various stages of learning. Sometimes my timing is off and I reward the wrong thing - it doesn't matter! Meander your way to your dog understanding your words :)
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