Dog training question: place vs. bed vs. crate vs. target vs. ??

[ShrekDawg]

Okay so I just thought of this random question and figured I would ask here because the more I think about it, the more I get confused. Hopefully somebody knows the answer and can help me.

Okay so my current dog knows bed which basically just means go sit or lie down on your dog bed and he also knows place which originally was just going to anywhere other than the bed, then was standing in a certain spot, like for instance this tile area in front of our front door, and now kinda just means go stand whereever I point and stay there until told otherwise. He's so good now it's usually just kind of me pointing rather than saying it. Anyway, he also knows what I call touch which is putting his 2 front paws on the stairs. I know most use touch as bumping your hand with their nose.

When I get a puppy eventually, I want to teach him those (but maybe more refined) but I also want to teach him other similar behaviors.

So for example, we never crate trained Gator. I want to do that with a new dog. I have also seen dogs do a target type behavior which is basically going to a mark on the ground (an x or rubber mat or something) and standing there/putting 2 paws on the mark. I guess the alternate command is going to mark. I've also seen dogs stand on a fit bone or fit pods type things.* And dogs climbing on top of buckets or tree stumps or other ridiculously narrow/small spaces and standing there, or even doing tricks on top of them. And a lot of dog training classes say they teach place or lay on a mat.

So I guess my question is:

Are these all the same commands or do you have to teach separate commands for them? Is that confusing for the dog having so many separate but similar commands? I guess the fit bones, fit pods, bucket stuff are more body awareness type exercises which is maybe different than place? And climbing on top of something seems somewhat different than going and laying down or standing somewhere.

But still.

Are they separate commands??

Thanks in advance.

*fit bone

https://fitpawsusa.com/product/k9fitbone/

Fit pods. I guess they're actually called paw pods but basically just one paw on each.

https://fitpawsusa.com/product/fitpaws-paw-pods/

 

[Foster's Freehold]

You have to decide on the name of the command. Heck you could call the crate"salad" and as long as you use the same word to get that action, it will train to that.

For example, if you want the pup to learn to sit on a mat, you can use "mat", then "sit".

The real trick to training is to be consistent with the commands. I always start with sit. Hold a treat above their nose, give the "sit" command and move the treat slightly backwards. If they seem not to get it, put your hand on their rump and apply a bit of pressure as you hold the treat slightly back of the nose. The second they sit, effusively praise and give the treat. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[dainerra]

consistency is key. also important is going to be making sure that you release the dog from the command before he gets a chance to get up and wander away on his own.

 

[ShrekDawg]

You have to decide on the name of the command. Heck you could call the crate"salad" and as long as you use the same word to get that action, it will train to that.

For example, if you want the pup to learn to sit on a mat, you can use "mat", then "sit".

The real trick to training is to be consistent with the commands. I always start with sit. Hold a treat above their nose, give the "sit" command and move the treat slightly backwards. If they seem not to get it, put your hand on their rump and apply a bit of pressure as you hold the treat slightly back of the nose. The second they sit, effusively praise and give the treat. Practice, practice, practice.

consistency is key. also important is going to be making sure that you release the dog from the command before he gets a chance to get up and wander away on his own.

Thanks for the help

I do know a lot of the basic stuff and trained our current dog by myself but I guess I wasn't sure if standing or sitting on top of a bucket or similar was different from place and those other commands? And what command would you use for that? Would I have to work on a basic place or targeting type behaviors first?

I've been reading books lately too but there doesn't really seem to be much on what command it would be for getting them to balance on small stuff.

And do you think crate should be totally separate from place?

 

[Foster's Freehold]

we call their crates a "house". they all know where to go when we say "get in your house".

I've only ever trained for the show ring and here at home, so don't know much about the details of trick training. I would imagine it to be much the same. Break it down into little chunks and start there.

 

[ShrekDawg]

we call their crates a "house". they all know where to go when we say "get in your house".

I've only ever trained for the show ring and here at home, so don't know much about the details of trick training. I would imagine it to be much the same. Break it down into little chunks and start there.

That's such a cute name for it!

And thanks for you help

I'm sure there must be a YouTube video or something!

And do you breed? If so, what breed?

 

[Foster's Freehold]

I ran an akc show kennel for rough collies, smooth collies, had a couple of fox terriers at times, the odd and end breed occasionally. I've had my dogs shown at westminster, a couple won the breed there.
I used to breed Jack Russel Terriers. Got out of the biz a long time ago though.
you are quite welcome, i'm not a vet, but have handled dogs just about all my life.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I ran an akc show kennel for rough collies, smooth collies, had a couple of fox terriers at times, the odd and end breed occasionally. I've had my dogs shown at westminster, a couple won the breed there.
I used to breed Jack Russel Terriers. Got out of the biz a long time ago though.
you are quite welcome, i'm not a vet, but have handled dogs just about all my life.

Oh wow that's awesome! I've never had a collie but have met a couple a few times and some shelties and they seem like nice dogs.

We've always had retrievers. Had a Yellow Lab growing up, we had to put him down in 2009 at I think 12 or 13. We had had him since 18 months. Then before that my mom had a Golden but I really don't remember him as I was still pretty young. My older brother probably remembers him more than I do cause he was around him a lot longer. Now we have a Black Lab/Great Pyrenees mix. And my Uncle had a Golden for a while. I do love retrievers as they are goofy, great dogs, so I think I'll probably always have one but I have tons of breeds I want to try. For example, most of the herding and terrier breeds haha and huskies, shepherds, etc. There's a lot of breeds I want to try so I probably won't ever get to them all haha

 

[X_and_Z]

The easiest rule of thumb for training dog commands is that you can have multiple words for the same behavior but never multiple behaviors for the same word.

There are exceptions to this, but it is a great place to start. So "place" would be separate from "go to your crate" which would be separate to "go to your bed" unless your dog's bed was in his crate and that was also his place. Of course, you can use any word that you can easily remember to go with any behavior - I have heard of one pup being trained with commands that are all spell names from Harry Potter.

As for things like fitpaws, etc. You often don't start with any commands at all. Dogs are typically taught to get on the equipment via clicker/marker and the equipment itself can become the cue.

My friends who just got a new dog really liked the book 101 Dog Tricks if you want to try new fun things but aren't interested in training for formal dog sports. They just put their first titles (AKC Trick Dog Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Performer) ever on a dog with this book and 1 6-week class. They did this with a 6 month old lab puppy.

There are also some good youtube videos for dog training (and some very, very bad ones) - for example, I have liked the KikoPup videos that I have seen.

 

[ShrekDawg]

The easiest rule of thumb for training dog commands is that you can have multiple words for the same behavior but never multiple behaviors for the same word.

There are exceptions to this, but it is a great place to start. So "place" would be separate from "go to your crate" which would be separate to "go to your bed" unless your dog's bed was in his crate and that was also his place. Of course, you can use any word that you can easily remember to go with any behavior - I have heard of one pup being trained with commands that are all spell names from Harry Potter.

As for things like fitpaws, etc. You often don't start with any commands at all. Dogs are typically taught to get on the equipment via clicker/marker and the equipment itself can become the cue.

My friends who just got a new dog really liked the book 101 Dog Tricks if you want to try new fun things but aren't interested in training for formal dog sports. They just put their first titles (AKC Trick Dog Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Performer) ever on a dog with this book and 1 6-week class. They did this with a 6 month old lab puppy.

There are also some good youtube videos for dog training (and some very, very bad ones) - for example, I have liked the KikoPup videos that I have seen.

Thanks so much! This is really helpful! I like clicker training but didn't think to use it for the fitpaws stuff ha

That's amazing about the titles too! I think I actually have that book somewhere, it sounds familiar, but my current dog doesn't like doing many tricks so I'd have to find it haha I didn't realize Labs could do so many tricks either! I'm always thinking I needed something like a Malinois, Kelpie, Border Collie, etc., for tricks cause those are in most of the trick videos but I wanted something a little mellower like a Lab or Golden but wasn't sure they could do it.

And I do follow kikopup but I wasn't sure if she had videos on this type of thing. I guess I will have to look.

Thanks again for the help!