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Go to Your Bed/Place

It's great to be able to send your poodle to her crate or mat when you need her to get out from underfoot. Luckily, it's not a hard thing to train.

Start by teaching her to go into her crate. Walk over to the crate, excitedly talking with her so she goes with you. Say “Go to bed” (or whatever cue you want to put on it), and gesture toward her crate. If she goes into it, give her a treat. If she doesn't, toss a treat into the crate to get her to go inside.

Tell her she's wonderful, and when she turns around in the crate to face you, give her another treat. Every single time you have your poodle go in her crate, give her the cue and give her a treat. Soon she'll be going into the crate to ask for a treat!

You can teach your poodle a different cue for telling her to go to her dog bed (instead of her crate). Perhaps “Go lie down” will work for you. Give her the cue, toss a treat onto the bed, then ask her to lie down after she goes to the bed to pick it up. Treat her again for the down.

If you've taught her to stay, you can put her on a down/stay if you want her to stay there. But don't forget to release her from it! Use the stay judiciously; if the bed is comfy or you give her a chew toy, your poodle might want to stay without being told. But if you ask her to stay every time she goes to the bed when you ask, she might be less inclined to enjoy her bed.

Alert!

If your poodle growls at you when you ask her to get off the furniture, you have a leadership problem. Until you have that under control, restrict access to the furniture and bed. Reinforce your role as her leader by making her earn all privileges. If you think she might bite you, call in a professional.

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  4. Go to Your Bed/Place
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