Chapter 11: Game 4 - Place - Premier MannersMinder Instruction Manual

TIP: You can skip Chapter 11 if you'd rather lead
Fido by the collar to his rug.
Recommended Daily Practice:
Two 15-minute sessions.
By now, Fido knows to go to his rug if you walk over
with him and has targeted many times so he's used
to running to the rug. He should also be going read-
ily and even goes spontaneously on own. Now we'll
teach him to run to his rug with the MannersMinder
near the rug on cue. If he's not going over happily or
he wants to avoid his "rug," you've either used food
that's not very high value to him or he's been rep-
rimanded and associates the rug with bad things.
If this is the case, spend a few days letting him
earn all of his food for lying down on his rug with
the machine as described in the Automatic Training
Session on pages 36 and 37 in the Down-Stay
section. Once he gets to the point that he immedi-
ately follows you to his rug when you bring out the
machine, then you can go to Step 1 of Place.
Step 1: Targeting and then Lying Down
Target Fido several times in row, but this time
follow him up to the "place" each time and when
he gets his treat, cue him to lie down. Once he's
down, give him a few more treats at varying intervals so he continues to think about
staying in a "down-stay" rather than developing a pattern of getting up right after he
gets his treats. You can even "jackpot" by holding the DISPENSE button at irregular
intervals once he's down. When you're sure he's in a stable "down-stay," go ahead and
target him off again and repeat the exercise. Make sure you practice from many differ-
ent directions relative to the rug. And if he looks like he's going to lie down crookedly,
just position yourself by stepping closer to the crooked side so that he will straighten
out before he lies down. If he lies down off his rug, then just have him stand up and
reposition him to lie down. When Fido reliably runs to the rug after targeting and lies
down quickly on the first "down-cue" or without a cue 9 out of 10 times in a row, go to
Step 2. Make sure that you target him from many different directions relative to the rug
so that he learns to lie down in the correct orientation regardless of the direction from
which he has approached the rug.
Chapter 11: Game 4 – Place
Step 1: Targeting and then
Lying Down
Complete 9 out of 10 correct sessions
in a row.
Checklist
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