# "Down" advice?



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

This is a pretty specific issue that I have and I'm not sure if anyone is going to have advice for this one - my guy Cash is having trouble with the "down" command.

A little background on Cash, he's almost 10 months old and he only has three legs. I've been taking Cash to obedience classes for a few months now and he's really coming along, but still struggles with down. This is a pretty basic command, but because he's missing his right front leg he has kind of a logistical issue laying down. At home in the house I can get him to do it because when he lays down he plants his front leg and then just slides backwards to lay down (the carpet makes it easy to slide) - outside it's a different story. If he's running around playing and gets tired he'll just plop down on the ground, but when I give him the command outside he just looks at me like I'm speaking another language. I know that part of this is just him being stubborn, but I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on different ways to make him "down" maybe I'll find a different technique that will work for my special guy.


----------



## dcjwlee (Jun 22, 2012)

I taught penny down by telling her to sit, then trailing my hand down past her face and close to her chest so that she HAS to back up a little to get to the food.

The first few times she nipped I said "no bite" and took the food away. Eventually she got it. From there I taught her roll over by moving the food back above her hide a little to the side. 

Obviously, with a front leg missing, you may have been looking for more tailored advice.

Hope I helped!


----------



## hobbsy1010 (Jun 4, 2011)

Why dont you create a reward/command for when he plops down, by repeating it every time he plops!!

And work on that.

Mrs Hobbsy


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

I taught Boris the down via the sit - which I would have thought was the easiest way for your speical guy to do it - with a treat between you fingers take the treat down towards the knee of his front leg. Boris was very established at doing down via sit before we progressed to down from standing.

The other thing is, do not keep repeating the word down - give the command and give him time to suss out how he is going to get down. When he gets down drop a treat by his front legs and lots of praise.

He'll get there, just take things slowly ;D ;D


----------



## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Not important, don't sweat it. Cash has 3 legs, not 4. 
I would not force any command that puts physical stress on a disabled dog.
If sit is easier, that is good enough, well worth the reward plus a hug, IMO.

It is said, the down command puts psychological stress on males and is sometimes wrongly used by dog owners as a way to assert their authority. 
I learned (on this forum, more precisely, from redbirddog's blog) that was not important as the dog knows, the one who provides food is the "alpha"


----------



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the good ideas - I'll try a couple different techniques and see how it goes. 

Right now we are taking a rally class - for fun, I don't think that we will ever actually compete at this, but Cash has fun going and hanging out with the other dogs and people (he's very social). There are already a couple of things that he has trouble doing, like walking at a slow pace - since he kind of hops instead of taking a step, he basically has two speeds, walking or running. We are just doing the things that we can do and I'm not worried about the rest, it's just something fun for him to do and it's good exercise that keeps him out of trouble.


----------



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

I've been working with Cash on "down" and practicing sit and then down, he wasn't making tons of progress. Tonight in rally class we had a new command to "down" from a standing position - I was thinking that there was no way that we were going to be able to do this. To my surprise after about the third time we tried this, he just plopped right down (like he does when he's running around outside) and looked like he totally knew what he was doing. I guess it didn't hurt that this was the first time I used cut up hot dogs as his reward - those are like magic pills


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Well done Cash - that is really good. He just figured out the easiest way to go down for him. Oh you only just discovered hot dogs - no wonder he wouldn't go down before, he has been holding out for hot dogs 8)


----------



## DixiesMom (Feb 5, 2009)

I was going to suggest the "standing" down. It should be easier to do because the front foot would not have to move, Cash should go down on his front and then drop his rear. A down from the sit requires the dog to walk out with it's front feet, using both of them. 

As far as during an obedience trial, if the sit/stay exercise is first once the judge says excerise complete, you can have your dog stand for the down/stay part. 

Good luck with Cash!!


----------



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

Thanks - last nights class was one of his best, the hot dogs made a huge difference - he's normally really distracted because we are outside in the grass and there are so many smells.  I've been taking this class just for fun, but last night was the first time that I actually thought he might be able to really compete at this (with a lot more practice). I'm not quite sure how we are going to do the side step, he really doesn't move that way, but we'll just keep working on it and see how it goes. 

As he's getting older I've noticed that he's getting a little more graceful (well as graceful as you can be with three legs). Before when he would jump on the couch he would basically throw himself up and use the back of the couch as a landing board and just kind of bounce off it but now he will run up to the couch, jump over my other dog that's laying in front of the couch and land soft, like a cat, not disturbing anything.


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

I started laughing reading cash using the couch to soften his landing. Wish you had a video. I'm always cracking up at ours. I bet he's easy to fall in love with.


----------



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

I'll have to try and get a video of him doing it - he's starting to get graceful but it's not every time. He still jumps up there and slams into the back of the couch, especially when he's in his crazy mode running around the house and up onto the couch and then another lap around the house!

He's a very sweet dog and you would never know that he was hurt when he was little (except for the missing leg) . The other day we were out for a walk and this little girl came up and was petting him for about 5 minutes, then when we started walking away she asked me why he walks funny (because he hops) and I told her it was because he only had three legs, she turned around and stared at him and was shocked because while she was petting him she didn't even notice that he was missing a leg - I honestly don't think that Cash realizes he's missing a leg either, it doesn't slow him down one bit!


----------

