I have been using a placeboard for a few months, but just for retrieving. I never gave a place cue, but just shaped her to get on and eventually to stay. I have lengthened the time and added distractions. She has retrieved a little off of it also. I now want to teach her the place cue. I want it to be able to send her to her bed (or any specific location/mat) when company comes, or we are eating at the table. I would also like to use it to place the dog in a certain spot on a hunting blind. I have started shaping her on a foam mat. At first I worked her up to laying down before she got a C&T. But now I am thinking that she should earn the C&T just when she sits on the mat, because I don't always want her to lay down in the hunting blind. Does this sound right? Any suggestions?
I would separate 'go to bed/mat' from 'hold a line to a blind until I ask you to hunt'. To me these are different behaviours. Go to bed is asking your dog to take up a station on a mat and settle down until released and will often involve lying down. The object to lie down on forms part of the cue so the dog knows what behaviour is expected. Creating straight lines to a blind consists of running a straight line, stopping and hunting when asked. Place boards are good for this as you train the dog to park itself on the board but it's ready for the next cue not settling down. So you start as you have done with rewarding getting on the board close to you. Then you can move away from the board and line the dog to the board with your arm as a visual cue. You can troupe a stop whistle when the dog gets on the board. @JulieT probably has better advice than I do as she's used her boards in this way whereas I used dummies with my first dog and food bowls with my second to teach my directions and straight lines. Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Yes, as Barbara says, a placeboard has a completely different use to a settle mat, and I wouldn't confuse the two at all - a placeboard is really an active 'working' thing, not a settle station. So use something else for your 'go to mat and settle' cue, not your placeboards (a small mat is ideal). I don't use a clicker at all for a settle cue, because I don't want my dog alert, working, waiting for the click. I want to reward as quietly as possible with food or, ideally, by a release from the mat and activity. I actually find it very difficult to get anything but a 'fake' settle by using food. My dog is far too used to earning food.
