The answer
By practising exactly those events, one at a time, while the dog is on the cot. Across four dogs the trainers test place against the things a house actually does. Thor's trainer spells out the order: the sessions get 'more and more distracting, more and more difficult, where I come and knock on the door, or I walk around, or I leave the room'. With Rocky a staff member is sent outside to knock and walk in, because 'all you need is somebody walking in for them to start thinking about getting up'; the trainer leaves the building, checks through the window, and knocks before coming back; another dog is worked or taken out while Rocky holds. The handler simply sitting down is its own test - 'that's not an invitation for them to get up that's a very common problem with dogs' - and the Piglet coaching session names the same trap for first-day dogs.
Coming back is treated as harder than leaving: 'the entrance is sometimes harder than me leaving and knocking', Thor's trainer says as Thor tries to get off when he walks back in. And the duration is made to look like home. Connor puts Shadow on place while he sits on his phone, 'That's gonna be what it's like when he goes home'; Rocky's group holds happen in the evening while staff watch TV or play video games, and Rocky's long holds end with him asleep on the cot. The stated end point, in the Piglet session: the dog goes to place on a word or a point and is still there after you have eaten lunch in the other room.
What is shown is the procedure and dogs holding (and sometimes breaking) through it. Not on film: a doorbell specifically, or how a family should run the same drills once home.
What to do
Don't only practise place when nothing is happening. Add one household event at a time - sit down, walk around, knock, walk in, leave the room, come back - and put the dog back if he gets up (watch 03:03; watch 27:08). Spend some holds just living your evening while he stays (watch 01:07).
What the trainers say
And then progressively we're going to make these kinds of sessions more and more distracting,
All right, now the second challenge is me reentering.
Because the entrance is sometimes harder
So that's just, that's why we do this. Because all you need is somebody walking in for them to start thinking about getting up.
are learning is that just because somebody sits down uh that's not an invitation for them to
Just to check to see what I'm walking into. They're all still in place, so I'm gonna toss in an extra
That's gonna be what it's like when he goes home.
Because he can't be loved and walked 24-7 as much as I'm sure he would love that.
This is what we want to get every dog to,
And then you can leave the room and go eat your lunch.
How it looks, dog by dog
Rocky
The fullest record: day-three duration after play ending with Rocky asleep on the cot; evening group holds with staff watching TV or gaming; knocks by staff, the trainer leaving the building and knocking before re-entry, other dogs worked and led out. He holds through most of it and breaks when things change - someone walking in, another dog taken out - and is put back.
On film
he's waking up he fell asleep on the cot which is incredibly cute and you guys
yeah because we do this every single night at first one at a time and then once they get more
Oh, there's the knock test we asked for. Very nice. They didn't get up. That's good.
Thor
No release through the stare - Thor settles after a long wait and ends up sleeping in the cot. The distraction ladder is named in advance (knock, walk around, leave), and when it is run, Thor holds through the exit and the knock but tries to get off when the trainer walks back in.
On film
more and more difficult, where I come and knock on the door,
All right, now the second challenge is me reentering.
Shadow (Siberian Husky)
Connor makes the hold look like a family evening: he sits on his phone for about five minutes at a time and Shadow has to chill out, because at home he cannot be loved and walked all day. The rest of the recording is near-silent place.
On film
Maybe you're going to be chilling, maybe, you know, whether it be like you're at home, or you're just sitting in the evening watching TV, chilling at home, playing games, whatever.
Piglet
A senior staff member coaches a new handler up the ladder: stand, sit down (a first-day dog often breaks on that), walk around, throw a toy, go out through the door, add time. The end state is named: sent to place by word or point, still there after lunch in another room.
On film
up the ante further from there walk around uh around throw a toy around see if they that's
a few times until you can leave out that door and they don't get up and then I
Why it works
Stated: a change in the room - someone entering, the handler sitting - is read by the dog as a possible release, so each change is practised as a non-release (watch 33:42; watch 01:41). Re-entry is harder than leaving (watch 27:23). Duration is set up to resemble home because that is what the dog will face (watch 01:19). Inferred: the dog learns that place ends only on the release word, not on any event.
Common owner mistakes
- Treating the handler sitting down as the end of place.
On film
get up that's a very common problem with dogs is that they have this idea in their mind that hey
Watch at 1:51 ↗
Questions owners ask
What order should I add distractions in?
Thor's trainer names knock, walk around, leave the room; the Piglet coaching goes stand, sit down, walk around, throw a toy, leave through the door, then add time. Re-entering comes after leaving and is harder.
On film
or I walk around, or I leave the room.
How long should a place hold be?
On film the long holds run until the dog sleeps - Rocky, Thor - and the Piglet goal is a dog still on place after you have had lunch in another room. No fixed number is given.
On film
And spend 10 minutes over there eating your lunch
The lesson
The goal
Proof place against each household event until none of them is a release.
Learn first
The drill
The ladder as coached with Piglet: stand, sit down, walk around, throw a toy, leave through the door and come back, then add time; reset at the first sign of breaking (watch 11:54).
Watch out for
- Proofing only in a quiet room
- Letting sitting down or walking in act as a release
- Stopping before the dog settles
Check yourself
Why is walking back into the room a harder test than leaving it?