Go to Bed
Basic Manners · 25 steps · by Push Drop Stick
Your Dog will learn to target a dog bed from another room or up to 10 feet away, lie down, and stay until released, for a hand signal or the verbal cue 'Go to Bed' amid basic distractions, distances, and durations of up to 2 minutes between treats.
You can have Your Dog target one specific bed, or allow them to target multiple beds around your house. Choose what you prefer and be consistent!
Go to Bed is one of the most useful manners you can teach. Send Your Dog to their bed to relax instead of begging while you eat, to keep them from counter surfing while you cook, or to move them away from the window or front door when they bark at passersby. Place the bed wherever you want Your Dog to relax, and once you reach the stay steps you can practice with real-life distractions like setting the table, cooking, or the doorbell.
This plan teaches Your Dog to go to a spot and hold a down stay there. If you want to teach genuine, loose-bodied calm rather than just holding the position, see the Settle plan.
For this plan you will also need:
**- A No-Reward Marker:** such as “Oops,” to mark the moment Your Dog breaks position. This helps them understand why they are not getting a treat for that rep.
**- A Release Cue:** such as “Okay!” or “Break!” to signal when your dog is free to get out of position, especially at the end of a training session. If you always use a release cue, Your Dog will learn to stay until released!
Training steps
Lure onto bed from 5 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Lure Your Dog to their bed, then into a down on it.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Prompt onto bed from 5 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Point at Your Dog's bed, then prompt them to go to it by walking toward it while continuing to point. When they reach it, cue them into a down, reinforce in position, then release Your Dog to get up for the next rep. If needed, call them off their bed for another treat.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Partially fade the prompt from 5 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Point at Your Dog's bed, then walk halfway toward it while continuing to point. Wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down. When they do, approach the bed and reinforce them in position before releasing them to get up for the next rep.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Hand signal
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Standing still 5 feet from the bed, point at Your Dog's bed and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down. When they do, approach the bed and reinforce them in position before releasing them to get up for the next rep. If Your Dog lies down in front of you instead of going to their bed, you can count that as a fail and prompt them to get up to try again, or just keep pointing at their bed and wait to see if they get up and go to it without prompting.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Add the verbal cue
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', then point to Your Dog's bed from 5 feet away and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue and prompt from 7 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', point at Your Dog's bed, then walk up to it while pointing.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue from 7 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', then point at Your Dog's bed and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue and prompt from 10 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', point at Your Dog's bed, then walk up to it while pointing.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue from 10 feet away
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', then point at Your Dog's bed and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue and prompt from just out of sight
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', point in the direction of Your Dog's bed, then walk up to it while pointing.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue from just out of sight
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', then point in the direction of Your Dog's bed and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue and prompt from another room
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', point in the direction of Your Dog's bed, then walk up to it while pointing.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Cue from another room
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Say the verbal cue 'Go to Bed', then point in the direction of Your Dog's bed and wait to see if Your Dog goes to it and lies down.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed while you walk in a circle
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Cue Your Dog to 'Go to Bed', then walk in a circle around them. Reviewing basic stay distractions teaches Your Dog that 'Go to Bed' means more than targeting their bed. It means staying there until released!
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Review stay on the bed, you walk in a circle both ways
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Cue Your Dog to 'Go to Bed', then walk in a circle around them in both directions. Reviewing basic stay distractions teaches Your Dog that 'Go to Bed' means more than targeting their bed. It means staying there until released!
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed while you walk 6 feet away and back
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Cue Your Dog to 'Go to Bed', then walk 6 feet away and back.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed while you walk 12 feet away and back
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Cue Your Dog to 'Go to Bed', then walk 12 feet away and back.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed while you walk out of sight for 1 second
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
Cue Your Dog to 'Go to Bed', then walk out of sight for 1 second.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 15 seconds
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed 20 seconds
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 30 seconds
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 45 seconds
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 1 minute
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 1 and a half minutes
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stay on the bed for 2 minutes
Setup: Your Dog is standing.
This step uses a "variable interval" schedule where you mix shorter durations (blue) in among the longer target durations (green) to keep your rate of reinforcement strong and unpredictable. You will complete more than 5 reps per step but only the target durations will be counted toward the tally. Regardless, give Your Dog a treat for every rep, even if it is only 1 second long. Start the timer and follow the duration prompts.
Success: Your Dog goes to the bed and lies down.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Good job! You've laid a strong foundation for Go to Bed.
Now it's time to proof Your Dog's new skill. You can restart the plan using proof steps, or play games with the goals you just earned. Practice both in different locations and around distractions.
To go further, the Settle plan teaches Your Dog to truly relax on a mat, not just hold a position, which pairs perfectly with a solid Go to Bed.