We talked about how to make your dog wait at a down stay for his meal. Doing that regularly ensures proper top dog placement.
Another fun thing to do is place your dog in a down stay. While they are in the “stay” position, place the treat on their paw or their nose or the top of their head – yup, their head. It freaks them out at first because they can not see the treat. But don’t worry, they’ll like the end result!
With our JRT rescue, who ran away twice before we learned how to make her STAY, we have her sit/stay before she goes into the backyard. She does a sit/stay before she comes into the garage. When we come home, she does a sit/stay in the garage until the humans are inside, then it is her turn! She does a down/stay for her food. And when we give her treats (sh, she’s on a diet) lots of the time we put them on a paw or her head or her nose.
It is a daily reminder of who is in charge. And dogs truly like to know they are not in charge!