Step 2
Now that my dog is voluntarily going onto the place mat. I will stop luring and start fading the physical help of walking over. In this step I will now add my cue before walking over to the mat. I say “place” then walk toward the mat all the way stopping at the front of the place mat letting my dog jump on, when they do I begin feeding clockwise ,counterclockwise making sure to feed both directly to the dog and placing food on the mat. It is essential to get the dog to move around the boundary of the mat , so that they understand that it’s okay to do so. I will gradually start fading out how far I walk toward the mat , this means I am gradually decreasing the distance that I walk toward it. When the dog jumps on I quickly head over to the place mat to prevent them from jumping off , and I begin the feeding process. If my dog gets off at any point in this stage I use my conditioned punisher “AH” withhold food and repeat “place” then continuing to feed when the dog is back on.