Dog Health Questions: Dog Training, to lie in his spot?

Is is mean or cruel, to have my dog lie down at 'his spot' in the house, just for training purposes. -Only for short sessions throughout the day? (Only about 15 mins, just here and there random times throughout the day..) The spot isn't away from everyone or anything. Just to get him to listen to me, and so that way when we tell him to go lie down while were busy or eating, he knows where to go to?
Do you think this is a good teaching method or would could you advise something else?

What Is The Best Approach To Dog Training?

Recommended Answer:
It's an excellent training method! I have owned dogs all of my life and each and everyone of my dogs has been taught to do this. There is no need for a dog or dogs to be roaming around the house unsupervised. Allowing a dog to run the house at will also makes it difficult to train a dog. It allows the dog to get into stuff that he is not supposed to get into or makes it possible for him to go to the bathroom in the house.
I currently have 2 Boxer's and a Shih-Tzu. The Boxer's have a homemade western style bed with a baby mattress in it. The Shih-Tzu has her own bed and both are in the livingroom. When we are at home the dogs have are not allowed to just walk around the house at will. They have to stay in the livingroom. If/when we tell them to go lay down, they are expected to go and lay on their bed.
They will go and lay there and are content to do so because they are in the same room with us. We can even eat in front of them and they will not leave the bed nor will they come to the table and beg.
Every once in a while we will call the dogs over to us so we can pet them and sometimes they are even allowed to come onto the sofa (one at a time) and lay with us. This is by invitation only!
When we have visitors the dogs also have to lay on their bed. Nothing more annoying then visiting somewhere and have dogs jump on you and scratch you or be in your face the entire time.
We do have a large fenced yard where the dogs can romp around and play in and I do take them to the river occasionally where they can run and play in the water and just be dogs.

Do's and Dont's of Dog Training

• Its a perfect base for dog training. Extremest might see it as mean, or just plain cruel. But in real life its a great thing. It teaches the dog to listen more, and show him who's boss, and it also helps at dinner time or when you have guest in you house. Also during training a dog needs to be in a place hes familiar with so hes not on edge and constantly looking around being in a safe place lets him learn the new trick with out any problems =]


• Training a dog to go his spot, or mat, is a valuable thing. However, in the beginning of training this, 15 minutes may be too much - start small and work up. Reward the dog for short stays in the mat and make sure you release him with an OKAY or FREE before he breaks from the spot. Then increase the time you want him to stay there by a minute or two or three at a time - build his training to stay so that he is successful and always release him before he gets up. You need to get a baseline on what he can do now, and then increase, with releases and rewards for staying, until you release. This is perfectly appropriate training, not mean or cruel. Just know your dog and build with success.


• I dont understand why you want your dog to be in "her spot" is she not listening to you? If not you need to spend more time with her take her for long walks so she is tired. Then she wont have a lot of energy to do things or to annoy you. Or maybe you should just teach her to lie down. and stay. Or a good one is to when your eating is to give your dog his favorite toy so he doesn't beg. Or even put her in a kennel. I thnk that having her own small spot is ok. its not cruel. just make sure you reward her after.


• its perfect.. give him a bone or something to keep him busy sometimes. and he will also learn the spot isnt a bad thing it can be fun to. best of luck =)


• It's essential training. But start with much smaller durations. 15 minutes would be like a bazzillion years to a puppy just starting this exercise. I taught the place command so my dog will go to whatever spot I point to. I taught him the down command. I taught him the stay. He should know those commands before you put them together to teach this. Right now my dog is 8 months old and I don't expect him to stay for more than 2 or 3 minutes. I can get him to stay longer if I give him something, a bone or a stuffed kong but that's just preoccupation it's not obedience to a command. You would have to use punishers to train the dog to stay long under obedience. If you use negative punishers (no-reward markers) it could take a long time. Most people would train this with positive punishers. Typically, you'd have a helper with a long-line to correct the dog if they broke their down stay. A remote would work great for this. You can do it yourself if you stay in sight or if you want the dog to learn to stay when you're out of sight, you hand the remote to someone else that can watch the dog. The down-stay with the handler out of sight is a fairly traditional exercise. Positive punishers work well because the behavior you're seeking is a passive. It's easy to just discourage everything else.