# Any tips on teaching "down"?



## EastBayer (Aug 17, 2012)

Milo is 13-weeks old and started puppy obedience last week. She got "sit" pretty quickly as I heard most dogs do. However, total epic fail on "down". She would not fold her legs forward. She will follow the treat between her legs til her head is practically tucked under her chest looking down but won't 'kneel' or lay Sphynx-like. I take the treat the opposite way (forward) to get her legs to slide forward and nothing. She'll just walk to it. I've tried gently bending her legs forward to Sphynx but won't repeat. It might just take time but we've been trying for over a week everyday and she nailed it maybe twice! :-\ Any tips?


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Hold the treat on the floor (literally against the floor) until she lays down to get at it. Immediately give it to her and say "good down!" It might take her a while, but she will lay down once she gets frustrated enough.


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## kristen (Oct 18, 2011)

"Down" was the hardest command for Odin to learn. What eventually worked was our puppy class instructor got out a piece of carpet and put it on the floor for him to lay down on. He finally realized it was okay, and laid down. We then slowly took the carpet away and got him to do it on different surfaces. That said, he still HATES to lie down on command, and is rare to lie down on a hard surface unless he sprawls on his side.


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

Down was hard for Ruby to learn, too. I thought she'd never get it. One day it just clicked. 

She would just sit and look at me like "whaaaat?" so I would grab her front paws and slide her legs forward until she was in the down position and say "down" and then give her a treat. Took a couple days (all her other commands just took minutes) but she finally got it. I probably didn't go about it the right way.


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Quite frankly some commands I "teach" or at least start to by saying the command when they're doing it already. She lays down at some point, so when you see her do it I would say "down, good down" and praise. I was also told once once they start moving down following a treat you can move the treat to their side so they're head follows and that's gets them down but kind of on their side not like sphinx. Maybe she's not comfortable in the "front" down.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Fist the dog must know SIT. From SIT comes 
DOWN.. and put hand with treat in palm on the ground and do not give up the treat until the dog is in down position. 
Not necessary, but, you can guide the dog by pushing a little between the shoulder blades (usually, this place is where the microchips are placed ). This is only to teach him the word DOWN (you can repeat, using a calm voice DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, only until he learns the word).... later, when the dog knows the word DOWN and choses to ignore, a quick correction *must follow*. The correction must be such that the dog becomes faster and more confident than before. At this point no treats should be used.

Dog training is fun and relaxing


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

EastBayer said:


> Milo is 13-weeks old and started puppy obedience last week. She got "sit" pretty quickly as I heard most dogs do. However, total epic fail on "down". She would not fold her legs forward. She will follow the treat between her legs til her head is practically tucked under her chest looking down but won't 'kneel' or lay Sphynx-like. I take the treat the opposite way (forward) to get her legs to slide forward and nothing. She'll just walk to it. I've tried gently bending her legs forward to Sphynx but won't repeat. It might just take time but we've been trying for over a week everyday and she nailed it maybe twice! :-\ Any tips?


I have a couple of tips for you.
1. Be good to your mother
2. Don't eat yellow snow

As for teaching "down". I think you have the right idea. I would just keep persisting. Repetition and consistency are my personal dog training mantras. 

Perhaps teach the "watch" command first, that way, you can call pup's attention to you, then give the "down" command and guide the treat down till they eventually follow. 

Also, now be honest here........ have you ever given in and given pup the treat when it has not gone all the way down? If so, then it knows you might give in and will test you out. If this has happened, just be strong and do not give in from this point forward and I am sure pup will come around.


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## Mischa (Feb 17, 2010)

I remember it being a trying exercise as Mischa would roll and curl her little body any way she had to to get that treat. lol

Our puppy school trainer had us simply grab her front paws and gently pull them towards us (from a sit), marking the action of her elbows touching down with the command, and "YES" followed by a treat right away. It worked really well.


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## EastBayer (Aug 17, 2012)

Just wanted to update everyone that after 2 weeks of trying every day, Milo got "down" finally today! I got the treats ready for our little training time, told her to sit which she already knew, then told her "down" and the little bugger went down! No repetition, no waiting! I gasped since I wasn't expecting it, heh! So after she got the treat and a billion "good down!'s" and hugs, she did it again several times. I cannot believe she actually did it when we were so unproductive yesterday. :

It's interesting the way she did it wherein she folded one leg slowly down first, then the other, just like I folded them down for her gently for the last two weeks. So she WAS paying attention after all!

Tomorrow evening in class we will work on "recall" and we're supposed to bring something slimey, smelly, disgusting that only she would eat. We are doing the Sirius training program created by Dr. Ian Dunbar. Besides "down," the classes have been working for us so far. Thank you for all your feedback!


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Recall in class is difficult because of distractions, or at least was for us. I quickly learned how to make new quirky attention getting noises with my mouth. Worked like a charm.


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## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

Yay! I'm glad it worked! It's too late for my advice for you, but I'll offer it up for everyone anyway.

I taught Jasper "down" by forcing him under my leg for a treat. I sat on the floor with one foot on the ground and my knee bent. Then I showed Jasper the treat and reached under the leg with it so he could really see and smell it. Then I slowly lured him so that in order to get the treat, he had to go under my leg, which was low enough that it forced him to lie down. I think I did that three times before he got the hang of it. I could not get him to lie down from a sit for the longest time, but once he got the hang of it, he had to do lots of puppy push-ups to earn his treats!

And like others, he doesn't like to do it on non-carpeted surfaces! What a silly dog.


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