First off, hello all :) I'm a self-confessed lurker of these board, but this happens to be my first post.
I was wondering if anyone had any particular tips regarding teaching an instant down/drop? I have a 7 year old Westie, called Chippa, whose constantly in training (agility, obedience just for fun, and the odd heelwork to music move), yet this is one thing I've never seriously attempted. At the moment, I know if I called him and commanded down when he was half way back he may hesitate slightly but would just continue coming. I feel as though I need to be behind him holding a lead to get him to stop and lie down, as well as being in front to call him to me - if that makes any sense!
Now I do use a clicker, so perhaps that would come in use, but at the moment I'm just not sure where to start.

Thanks,
Karen.

Hi Karen.  I tried teaching my first girl to "lie down" at four months or so.  She already had "sit" down perfectly, among some other things.  (Make sure yours knows "sit" before you teach the down.)  I tried and tried to get her to lie down.  After a couple days of frustratration (she's a really smart woofer and had, until then, picked everything up within a few tries), I joined a dog training e-list and thereby discovered it wasn't that she didn't want to do it because she was a bitch (ha!) or was dominant or anything like that; it was just that we were having communication issues.  The thing we finally tried that worked was me on one knee with the other leg near the ground and her in a sitting position, bowing towards me in order to flatten out to get under my leg to get to the treat.  Her having to do that finally made the connection for her - that she needed to lie down in order to get the treat when "lie down" was spoken.  (For the record, pushing him down with your hand while you're giving the command probably won't work.  I heard it doesn't work in most cases, and it didn't work for my girl.)  After that day, all I've had to do is say "lie down", and flop she goes.

And that's all I know on the subject!  :)

Your dog is accustomed to dropping close to you. To change this you need a helper to hold the lead. Stand a couple of feet beyond the full extent of the lead and give the 'drop' command. The helper should not move. If the dog drops then reward enthusiastically. If he doesn't drop then move in closer, get the drop & reward. Gradually extend the distance with the dog still on-lead (or tethered if you do not have a helper). Once he gets the idea that 'drop' means 'you do not have to come to me, drop exactly where you are and you will be rewarded' then you can try it off-lead. Extend the distance between you and the dog very gradually. Once this is solid you can prgress to drop on recall.
Hope that is of some help :-)

once you think youve got it,practise
when hes pottering around at a distance
when hes on his way back
& when hes going away

dont say his name ,just "down" as he might trey to recall to his mname,its important as it could save his life

Is it the position or the action that you want, ie the down or the stop?

My suggestion would be that you work on both in isolation.

Ie you teach the down on its own and you teach the stop on its own.

The stop is easy to teach.

If you are in a hall or a garden throw some food away when the dog has eaten it and it turns round to come back raise your hand with the food and do an overhand throw with some food in.  After a couple of goes the dog will have no reason to come back to you because the food is being thrown out there so he will naturally start to turn round and wait and look at your hand.

Once this is accomplished you can change your throwing hand into a flat hand as a "stop" signal, and then follow through with the throw.

Once this is accomplished you can say "stop" wait a second and then raise your hand and then throw, making sure there is a gap between each so that after a few you can actually fade the hand command and just use the stop command.

Personally I find it useful to have my dogs stop to a whistle and voice and hand because if my dog is close my voice is sufficient, if the dog is going away fast a whistle carries further and it is not looking at my hand and if say on the gundog field a hand signal is good when you want silence.

Train the down separately, there are many ways of doing this, cupping your hand with a treat and when he thrusts his nose in move so that the dog will move back and down and then treat, you can use a chair or your knees to encourage a down, again once you have the behaviour start putting a cue in front.

Teaching both separately will avoid any confusion in your dog as obviously a down and a stop are different behaviours.

You can merge both by gradually substituting the cue for down with the cue for stop and so the dog will stop and drop simultaneously.

HTH

Great, thanks for collection of tips, I'll see what I can get them to amount to :) My dog does know down (I think at 7 I'd be worried if he didn't!), just not solidly enough for him to do it as a drop on recall.

Sounds like practice, practice, practice is what's in order!

Karen.