1. Food lure your dog into a drop/lay down position on his/her mat. Depending on the size of the dog, it is often easier if we are kneeling down close to the mat. No words are used at this stage, other than a marker word such as “yes” (that tells your dog he’s done what you require) and a release word (eg “free!”) that allows your dog to get up and leave the mat. Once your dog has actually laid down on the mat, say “yes” and allow him to take the food treat from your hand. Give your dog the release word after only a moment of your dog having laid on his mat. After all, your dog doesn’t know what the release word means yet, so you are only building up ‘word association’ at this stage. You will give the dog his ‘release word’ EVERY time, before he gets up off his mat.
2. Once you’ve done Step 1 a couple of times and you have both gotten the idea, begin to add in the words “on your mat” (or whichever word/s you are going to chose for this trick .... a single word is fine, if that’s what you are likely to do normally). Introduce these word/s a moment before your dog has completed the act of laying on his mat.
3. Wean off using food as a lure to laying on the mat. Use your hand as you would if you had food in it, but once your dog has laid down on his mat, quickly source a piece of food from your pocket or a food treat pouch (somewhere you can get to quickly and easily) and reward him with it.
4. As the process of your dog laying on his mat becomes more fluent and reliable, say “on your mat” a bit earlier and earlier, until such time as you are saying “on your mat” just before your dog gives the action. Only proceed to this if you’re pretty sure your dog will give you the desired action, otherwise you are teaching your that the words are meaningless. At this stage you are still using your hand as if luring your dog with a food treat.
5. Now is the time when you want to think about weaning-off having to be knelt down and using your hand to ‘cue’ your dog to the mat. Try standing up – but you’ll need to bend over some to still use your hand as if to ‘food lure’. When that is working well, begin to use your arm and hand a little less and eventually wean this off completely, until your dog is laying on his mat at the words “on your mat” (or your equivalent). You are standing close to his mat at this stage. Don’t forget to reward your dog with his food treat and quickly give him his release word.
6. The next step is to get him to actually GO to his mat and lay down. Remember – he’s learnt that “on your mat” means lay down on his mat. This step now adds an extra action that he hasn’t been trained to do. IE To first walk to his mat. Stand near his mat, but perhaps about 12 inches away from your usual position. Say “on your mat” (or your equivalent). Because this part of the training is a bit different/new, your dog might be puzzled, so you might need to use your hand and arm in a similar way as you did when you used to food lure him to the required position.
7. When your dog has got the idea, you can then begin to work further and further away from his mat.
8. When Step 7 (distance) is happening, you can introduce the “door knock” as the cue for “on your mat”. This is another variation you’re adding to this trick, so your dog isn’t going to understand what this means, at first. To teach your dog what it means, you simply knock on the door (from inside) and then tell your dog to “on your mat”.
9. Repeat Step 8 until your dog is going to his mat and laying down without you having to say the words. If this simply doesn’t seem to be occurring, help your dog out a little. Knock on the door, wait a moment for your dog to respond. Let him think about it. But if it looks like nothing is happening, say the words “on your mat”. Or perhaps just give a little hand signal/gesture to indicate what you want, without saying the words at all.
10. Go to the door, step outside. Knock on the door, step inside – if your dog hasn’t gone to his mat (remember .... going outside is yet another variation from your dog’s perspective, so he might not be sure about what he is supposed to do) say “on your mat”.
11. Knock on the door from outside, step inside. Give your dog a moment to think (he’ll be looking at you expectantly). If he doesn’t make the move to go on his mat, help him out with perhaps a hand gesture (as mentioned in Step 9).
12. Introduce some help from your friends and family. Begin now by having your helper knock on the door. Tell your dog “on your mat”, the first time this occurs. This is another variation to what your dog is used to. The ‘equation’ looks different to him so we take a step back in our progress of weaning off from additional assistance. Offer your dog a clue (eg. Hand gesture). When he recognises how he can win that tasty reward, he’ll begin responding quite quickly to the rules of the trick.
13. Congratulations! You have now taught your dog the initial basic steps to this trick. Remember, he’s only just learnt it – that doesn’t mean he’ll be able to have the presence of mind to successfully demonstrate “on the mat” under high level distractions/uncontrolled environments (eg. people arriving unexpectedly; lots of noise; etc). You need to increase these sorts of distractions and proof the exercise over, until your dog can automatically offer you this behaviour almost seemingly as a ‘second nature’.
TRAINING TIPS FOR THIS TRICK
· Start teaching your dog in a quiet, minimal distraction environment .
· Initially, use the same mat each time – preferably in the place where you will want your dog to go to when people come to the door.
· Short training bursts are best. Quit while the dog is still interested.
· Train before your dog has its meal – so he is a bit hungry for the treats you offer .
· Hold the treat between your thumb and index finger with your palm facing down.
· Very small pieces of treat should be used each time. This helps to keep your dog interested rather than filling up on the treat, but also avoids your dog needing to spend much time chewing the treat before the next repetition of the exercise.
· Always finish on a high note. If you’ve moved on in training too quickly and it begins to deteriorate, return to the previous step. Finish on a ‘win’. J
· Move from one step to the next only after achieving 10 successful attempts in a row. This doesn’t have to occur all in the one training session. You might get two successes at the end of one session. Two out of two successful tries in the next session, and so on. Once you’ve counted 10 successive successes, progress to the next step in training. This will help avoid you rushing your dog and progressing before your dog is ready.
· Use ‘special’ treats for training – treats that your dog REALLY loves and does not normally receive at any other time.
· Above all, ENJOY training with your dog! Training your dog activities and tricks is a great way towards providing your dog with mental stimulation. Lack of mental stimulation is a very common reason for many of the problematic behaviours dog-owners experience from their dogs (eg. Barking; digging; destructiveness; etc). Training your dog also goes a good way towards re-affirming your leadership to your dog, on a regular basis. Giving your dog a job to do will be something your dog will appreciate and love.
Remember to call your dog trainer/behaviourist if you are having difficulties in any facet of your dog’s behaviour. Getting help early can often make the difference for both you and your dog.
