Teaching your dog to move to a particular spot-on cue is a useful behavior when it comes to bringing visitors into the home, answering the door, collecting the mail, and more.

To teach this behavior, first choose a spot for your dog to target. This can be a mat you add to the environment, or you can use a rug or marking already on the floor.

Guide your dog to step onto the spot using a lure or hand target. Mark and then reward your dog away from the spot, to set them up for another repetition. Practice until your dog is eagerly approaching the location.

Next you can add in asking your dog to sit. From here you can reward your dog in position to increase the duration they are there for before releasing and throwing a treat away for them to go and get. You can introduce distractions while your dog sits on their spot, such as stepping away before returning and rewarding your dog.

In time your dog will start to recognize the spot as a desirable location to go to. You won’t need to continue using a lure or hand target to guide them and can instead add in a verbal cue such as ‘spot’ to ask your dog to go to their spot, sit and wait.

Be sure to train little and often so your dog loves this game. The more you practice the easier it will be to transfer to real life situations when you need your dog to wait on their spot.