I have the puppy video and the basic ob video. I'm having trouble with the place command with my 8 mo old. He seems to think it means down. If I say place he goes into a down right next to me, even if his mat is 10 feet away. I have to walk him over and stand in front of his mat and say place and treat him. I praise him a lot when he goes on his mat, but I'm not able to get him to do it unless I am standing in front of it. Why is he confusing the two, because he goes into a down on his mat and I reward him?
And, I got him a great sheepy mat and it amazes me he sometimes will sleep right in front of it on the hardwood floor.

 Quote: Leslie Downey

I have the puppy video and the basic ob video. I'm having trouble with the place command with my 8 mo old. He seems to think it means down. If I say place he goes into a down right next to me, even if his mat is 10 feet away. I have to walk him over and stand in front of his mat and say place and treat him. I praise him a lot when he goes on his mat, but I'm not able to get him to do it unless I am standing in front of it. Why is he confusing the two, because he goes into a down on his mat and I reward him?
And, I got him a great sheepy mat and it amazes me he sometimes will sleep right in front of it on the hardwood floor.

He just doesn't get it yet.

Say place (always the same word, of course) and guide him onto the mat. When all four paws are on the mat, mark and reward.

I would only gradually increase my own distance from the mat. DON'T start from any distance away at all.

For question #2, I think sometimes the dog wants to cool off his undercarriage.

How about tying your dog near his mat while you walk over to it and drop some tasty food on it. Make sure he sees you doing this and is excited for the food!

Then walk back to him, release him and send him to his mat with the word. That way you can actually build drive for the mat.

Sounds like he currently thinks he's being rewarded for lying down and not associating the reward with the place.

After a while, you can pretend to drop food on his mat while he watches and send him there. When he sniffs around looking for the food, you can walk up and drop the treats there.

Keep dropping treats so he stays there and give him a clear release once you're done.

Eventually you can back away a step while saying "good place" and step in every 2-3 seconds to treat him (before he breaks). Kinda like building the sit or down stay.

As far as choosing the floor, he's probably just hot.

He's already wearing a fur coat so he probably enjoys the cooler floor

Am I not giving it enough time? It looks so fast on the video. I am getting a little farther away when I say place, but not very far. Seems like I've been doing this for days. Is the reason I'm an incompetent trainer because I'm impatient? I know I'm not consistent enough.

Impatient is not productive. :>

Are you doing several very short and upbeat sessions a day? Always ending on a high note?

I'd recommend that you try enyoying the sessions instead of seeing them ONLY as a means to an end.

Are you marking promptly when all four feet are on the mat?

It sounds like you're not going in steps.

Associating the mat with the word "place" is the first step, then associating down ON The mat with "place" -- if he happens to be standing on the mat and you say place and he goes down and you treat him, he just knows he got a treat for laying down. Where he is...totally incidental. First, teach that the mat is relevant.

I agree with all of the above - it sounds like he thinks "place" means to lie down, not to be on the mat.

I would suggest, because he already associates the word place with the down, to now change your word for the mat, and start over with marking him being on the mat. I use "bed" instead of "place."

Changing the word and starting over will be easier than trying to get him to unlearn the down, it will be less confusing.

We redid this type of training for French Ring vs the old command of 'crate' or 'on your bed' From the the way the original poster is describing the OP is starting to teach the exercise to far away from 'place' and the dog is confused between down and the place. It needs to made clearer for the dog and then success will follow.

Instead of using a dog bed we are using an old burlap 20kg size Rice bag that I can fold into 1/2 and 1/4 if I want.

We started off by laying the bag on the ground and bringing the dog to it on leash. Give the command 'place' then moulding her to lay on it by luring her with a treat she never got the treat until she was laying down on the bag. The key was getting the treat down to the level of the bag. Once she figures out that being on her 'place' is a good place to be then you can start moving away.

At home training I use a clicker to mark when she is on 'place' just for consistency

 Quote: jennifer marshal

I agree with all of the above - it sounds like he thinks "place" means to lie down, not to be on the mat.

I would suggest, because he already associates the word place with the down, to now change your word for the mat, and start over with marking him being on the mat. I use "bed" instead of "place."

Changing the word and starting over will be easier than trying to get him to unlearn the down, it will be less confusing.

Changing the command word is a great suggestion, since yes, it sounds like this dog is confused about what "place" means at this point. Not a big deal, but rather than confuse him further by using the same word in a different context, just adjust your strategy and use a NEW word, or words. I used "go lie down".

Not sure what steps are in the video, as I haven't seen it yet, but when I learned how to train for this, I was taught to start by walking my dog around the room in a loose heel, approaching his bed, and walking right up next to the bed so he ended up standing on it. The minute all 4 feet were on it, I clicked (with clicker) and treated. Then we'd do another lap around the room and repeat - only treating when he was on his bed. After a few of these laps, I incorporated the words "go lie down" just before I treated. Eventually, on each lap, when we got within a few feet of the bed, Oscar would trot ahead to it and step onto it then look at me waiting for a treat - he knew being on the bed was what I wanted and in his anticipation for a reward, he'd speed up his approach.

The "go lie down" command was then elaborated bit by bit to include lying down on the bed, then actually running to the bed to lie down from across the room, and without me walking to it with him. The first step however is teaching the dog that the BED, and being on IT specifically, is the primary element of the command. All in all, it took less than a week of working on this for my dog to happily run across the room to "go lie down".

Good luck!

~Natalya

This one was hard for me and my pup also. He learned sit,down,stay, come in a matter of minutes. Place was different for some reason. It took a lot longer and we still practice every day. It even took a while for my pup not to grab what I was placing him on and try to run off and play with it. You are right, it looks so simple in the DVD. I also kept asking myself what I was doing wrong. It is 2 months since I started and he's got it down pat now. I move it around now so he has to look for it.