The elevated platform, or pause table, is one of the essential tools in any trainer’s toolbox. It is used to teach confidence, central positions and improve focus and work ethic. As celebrity dog trainer Joel Silverman states, “One of the best-kept secrets in dog training is the use of high areas. One of the reasons we use high areas is because we want to work with the dog in a defined place. The motive for this is that it makes training most behaviors easier because the dog is more likely to stay in a location. Most importantly it makes the training of behaviors, like “stay,” much easier. Training your dog on flat ground can be OK, but the issue with training dogs on flat ground is that there is no defined place, so often it makes it much easier for dogs to cheat and move around. Remember, we always want to make things as easy as possible for you and your dog” http://wagslending.com/2015/07/10/training-using-elevated-areas
Elevated dog beds will never win awards for comfort. You won’t see the words “plush” , “foam core” or “luxurious” used in their marketing campaigns because these beds capitalize on a different approach, one that takes the power of training on an “the elevated platform” into the home of everyday dog owners.
Benefits of My Kuranda Elevated Dog Bed
For my purposes Uma, my five-year-old German shepherd needed a “home base “ in my living room that would become her “default” location. My goal was to use the defined space of the elevated bed to help me establish a quiet resting place with easy to understand boundaries. With a Kuranda www.kuranda elevated dog bed now set up in my living room, living indoors with Uma has become a lot more manageable. When she gets too rambunctious inside the house, I use the “place” command to direct her onto the Kuranda elevated dog bed. Once she steps onto the bed, she quickly settles down because she understands that she can’t step off the bed until I give her permission. If she was on a regular dog bed, once I left the room, one foot would be off the bed, and a second later both feet and then she’s totally off. When using the elevated dog bed, I no longer have these issues. The black and white boundary of being a few inches off the floor makes an incredible difference. When Uma is on the elevated dog bed, she settles down because she knows what is expected of her and she does a much better job of focusing and staying on her bed.
As longtime members of several New York City dog training clubs, where elevated platforms and the place command are used extensively, Uma and I have already gone through the basic training and she understands what’s expected of her.
Over to You!
If you and your dog has never been taught the basics of platform training, I highly recommend contacting a local dog trainer with PetYen or go to www.PetYen.com and type in “I want to learn platform training” in our request box and connect to the best dog trainers in the New York City area who can help you take the first steps to learning the power of the elevated platform.
Tell us! Have you used an elevated dog bed for training? What benefits have you seen? Share below in the comments. I’d love to hear!