How Long Should Your Dog be Placed?

As most of you know, the place command is such an important skill to teach your dog.  Not only is it extremely useful in a variety of situations like answering the doorbell, keeping your dog out of the kitchen during dinner, managing window barking, but it also teaches your dog to calm down!

Take a look at the video below, it was shot a few years ago and is a time lapse video of placeboard duration with some distractions.

While this is a good way to proof your dog’s ability to stay on a placeboard, it doesn’t necessarily help to teach the dog to calm down and settle.  It’s also important to place your dog while you are eating dinner, working on the computer, or watching tv; this is where the real self-c0ntrol comes in.

All of us should be placing our dogs multiple times a day for long periods of time.  We often get asked, “How long should I keep my dog on a place?”  There is one simple answer to this question – until he/she falls asleep.  This may take hours for some dogs, it may take shorter periods of time for others, but the bottom line is if your dog hasn’t fallen asleep while doing a duration drill on a placeboard, you’re not doing it long enough.

Try this tonight when you sit down and relax for the night, you’ll be amazed at how extending your placeboard duration drills will help in so many facets of your dog’s life!

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