Please could somebody just clear something up for me. I've downloaded the free ebook from AD about boundary games and Inky now enthusiastically leaps on his bed and generally off at the release cue. I can't see when you introduce the cue to get on to make it clear we are doing the boundary, maybe I've misunderstood? If you do it with a different boundary, do you start from the beginning again but use the same cue to start the boundary and the same release cue? I use a different release from the one I use when releasing him from lie, but not sure whether this is right. As always any advice welcome
No, it doesn't tell you when to introduce cue in the ebook, I started to do so once she understood the game and was consistently going on the bed of her own accord. By this I mean as she gets on the boundary say your cue. But I kind of guessed that, because the way we taught them to go on her mat at puppy class did it that way, it seems to have worked because she responds to that. I myself don't think it matters to use a different cue for different boundaries, but I use the release cue "break" for all of them. I'm currently using it to get her to wait in the car before jumping out. This seems a bit garbled, hope it helps.
Introducing the cue to get on is the very last step. That said, I introduced it after Coco was reliably getting off on the release. He already had massive value built up in being ON the bed. I decided to release him, chuck food then do a couple of exercises like down/stand before he got back on the bed and I wanted to be able to cue him back on. I am using a separate release cue for the boundary games. I've no idea why, it just felt right.
Thank you both for your replies. I'm still a bit confused. Inky already goes in his bed (crate) when I say "in your bed", but I don't tend to release him from this as he's there mostly when I'm out or in bed. Should I use the release word when I let him out after these times or should I use a different cue to put him in the crate when we're doing the boundary? And still not sure whether I should have a generic boundary cue to tell him to stay on whatever that we use wherever we play the game. I don't know if I'm making it too complicated!
Is the door shut on the crate? If it is, I would introduce a release when you open the door; that is, you should be able to open the door and he doesn't come out until you give your release cue. That's good practice anyhow with all types of door, gate etc. Of course, this doesn't work if you keep the door of his crate open when you put him in, because he would just break if left for any length of time. In that scenario, I would use a different cue for "go to the boundary and stay until released". My cue for boundaries is "place". The aD duo and Susan Garrett all use "hop it up". I think it's good to have something generic, as I'd feel a bit weird saying "in your bed" if I was using a rock, a step or a chair etc. There's no reason why you can't keep "in your bed" to specifically mean to go into the crate, though.
