All our training starts by teaching 'Touch', also known as target training. The aim is for the dog to touch a target with their nose. In this case to touch our hand. 

Once they are standing on the bed there are a few options we use depending on the dogs reaction. The first is to continue luring them into a sit position by holding the treat near their nose then moving our hand up in an arc over their head and at the same time say 'sit'. As they lift their head to follow the treat we may see that they drop their butt to the mat. The instant this happens we say 'yes' and give them the treat. Then practice/repeat this process in short regular sessions. I haven't managed to capture the action I wanted to show you in Papa's videos and he is too quick to sit now that I'll have to try with our next foster and update this video then but hope you get the idea.

If you have a dog who lays on a bed it becomes quite simple to lure them up into a sit position with a super tasty treat. We offer a reward and cue 'yes' as they start to raise up in the beginning of the process so that we are breaking the process down into small achievable steps. With practice they will quickly reach the sit position.

If the dog becomes distracted or loses interest during the session drop back to 'Touch' so that you both finish on a positive.

Once our dog knows 'Touch' we use it to lure them on to a comfy bed or training mat where they are more likely to want to sit or lay down. To practice luring them to the mat we throw a treat out and say 'get it' and as soon as they turn back to us we say 'on your bed' and use 'Touch' to lure them back. Once they reach the bed we mark it with a 'Yes' and reward them.

We can also try the catch method where we simply stand near the bed and wait for them to start to lay down and try to catch them in the action of sitting on the way. As they reach the sit position we reward them and to keep them in the sit position we reward with treats rapidly. We can also reward the down position and mark it with the queue word 'down'. Then it's just a matter of practicing.

Another way to lure a dog into the down position is to hold a treat in a closed hand and wait for them to drop down and release the food when they do. To keep them in the down position continue to reward them. Again once they learn down it is just a matter of luring them up into sit.

Always finish a training season with a release word like finished or free and I always like to show them that my hands are empty.

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​Good luck and remember to have fun!