🛏️ Week 3 Day 3 · Place/Settle — 3-Min Out-of-Sight Settle

Duration + variability — the final layer. Day 1 proved the behavior in real environments. Day 2 stacked simultaneous distractions. Day 3 extends the holds across changing conditions and rotating reinforcement. A behavior that holds for 60 seconds across 3 surfaces under variable reward schedules is a behavior you own.

Place / Settle — Week 3, Day 3 with your dog

⏱ 15–20 minutes🏠 Mat in view of a doorway — you'll leave the room🎯 Goal: ${label} holds the settle for 3 continuous minutes while you're fully out of sight

Where Day 2 left off

Day 2 extended the settle to hold through an active greeting sequence — proximity, excited name-calls, and physical petting from a greeter while your dog remained on the mat.

Day 3 tests the longest and most isolating version: 3 continuous minutes with you completely out of sight. The settle is no longer managed by your visible presence. your dog holds it because the behavior is theirs.

Your Week 3 Day 3 protocol

1
Setup: Mat in position near a doorway — warm up with 2 short settles before going out of sight
30-second and 60-second in-sight holds first — confirm the behavior is active today
Send your dog to the mat. Hold a 30-second settle with you present. Release, treat. Send again. Hold 60 seconds. Release, treat. These warm-up reps confirm the behavior is running well today before you add the out-of-sight variable. If either warm-up rep breaks early: the behavior isn't ready for out-of-sight extension today. Work the in-sight duration first and add out-of-sight in a later session.
2
Phase 1: Step out of sight for 30 seconds — return before they break
Send to mat — hold 15 seconds in-sight — step around the corner — 30 seconds — return calmly
Send your dog to the mat. Wait 15 seconds in sight. Then step just out of sight — around a corner, into the hall. Wait exactly 30 seconds. Return calmly. If your dog is still on the mat: mark "yes," treat, and praise. The 30-second out-of-sight hold is the entry point. Return before your dog breaks if possible — early returns prevent the "hold until I can't hold anymore" pattern and replace it with "hold until they come back."
3
Phase 2: Step out of sight for 90 seconds
Same sequence — but 90 seconds before you return
Repeat the send-to-mat sequence. Step out of sight. Wait 90 seconds. Return calmly. If your dog holds: mark and jackpot. If your dog broke and came to find you: no mark, no reaction. Calmly return to the mat, re-send, and hold a 30-second out-of-sight rep before trying 90 again. The step-down keeps the behavior functional; the re-attempt at 90 seconds on the same session confirms the break wasn't the end of the training.
4
Phase 3: 3-minute out-of-sight hold — the full target
Send to mat — leave the room — 3 full minutes — return calm — jackpot
Send your dog to the mat. Leave the room completely. Go somewhere you're not audible (the bathroom, another room with the door closed). Set a timer for 3 minutes. When the timer completes: return calmly, walk to the mat, mark "yes," and deliver the largest treat you have. If your dog is on the mat after 3 out-of-sight minutes: that's a fully generalized, duration-capable, out-of-sight settle. That's the behavior that lets you answer the door without chaos, cook dinner without drama, or work from home without your dog at your feet.

If your dog consistently breaks the settle to find you when you leave the room — even at short durations — this is separation anxiety behavior specific to the settle context, not general separation anxiety. It means the settle behavior relies on your visible presence as a structural cue. Fix this by making your departures very brief and very predictable: step out → step back in immediately → treat → repeat. The predictability of your return is what allows your dog to hold the position without needing to locate you.

Out-of-sight duration is the real-world target for every settle

A settle that holds only while you're in the room is a supervised behavior. A settle that holds while you're out of sight is an independent behavior. The difference is whether your dog is responding to your physical presence as part of the cue, or holding the behavior because the mat is the instructed location until released. Real-world settle utility requires the second.

The 3-minute duration target is not arbitrary — it represents the time required for most real-world settle scenarios: answering the door fully, accepting a delivery, having a short conversation with a guest without actively managing the dog. A settle that holds for 3 minutes unsupervised is sufficient for almost every household situation. Longer durations build on the same foundation, but 3 minutes is where the behavior becomes genuinely useful.

Duration work raises real questions. Voice coaching is 15 minutes per session, included with a founding membership. If the long holds are breaking down in specific spots, talk through it with your coach.

Talk to Coach →

Week 3 Day 3 — duration seals it.

Long holds. Rotating contexts. Real reliability.

✅ Week 3 Day 3 logged.

Duration and variability cleared. The behavior that holds across surfaces, rotating reinforcement, and out-of-sight conditions is a behavior you can rely on. Week 3 complete.

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