I'd like to ask contributors to the board what techniques they use for teaching their dogs to DOWN and what are their personal reasons for using this specific technique (this may be because you physically struggle with another, or it has implications for future training - ie obedience work requiring a high level of accuracy).

Admin: we would like to keep this thread as your techniques and NOT for debate. If you would like to debate ANY issue raised in this thread, please start another thread headed Down - Debate

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1) For down I would tell them to sit and put a treat in front of their front feet and slide the treat back into them and at the same time I would say down. Then when they got that idea I tell them to sit and put my hand flat on the floor and say down then treat/praise. Now they know what my flat hand ment I can now stand in front of them and just put my hand out flat and say down, eventually I don't have to say any thing just show them my hand out flat.

I used this cause I want them to learn hand signals, and it seems to work with my crew.
ttfn :)

Well when I did dog traing with Saskia the trainer told me to do a down from a sit at first then buid on it. I use to ask her to sit by holding treat in hand slightly higher than she was so she would lean back to get it....... then she would sit. I would praise her for this then give her treat,

Wait till you have this perfected and dog will do sit on command, then when in the sit postion put treat between two front paws, when dog leans down tp reach for it pull the treat wawy from the dogs body till the dog is lying down. The first few times the dog may get excited and only stay down for a second or may have only front half of body on ground but still praise this, the dog soon realises,

Saskia will do a down with out being in the sit postion now it really worked

Sorry if I have not explained it very well but Im sure you get the jist :)

hope it helps

Heidi

bump

Digger
I'm not a dog trainer but do love training my dog. Hence I have, and still do, read quite a lot on dog training books. The thing to remember is that all dogs are different. It depends on breed. It also depends on the individual dog. Some have better sight, enabling them to see hand signals from a distance better, others have better hearing, so you dont have to shout a command to be heard, some dogs may react better to treats, others to whistles etc etc. There are loads of books on the market as you may know of dog training but a good place to start is "A New Owners Guide To Dog Training". It uses positive re-inforcement and teaches different methods of the "down" and the "sit". If your looking for a video then go to www.leerburg.com and get "Basic Dog Obedience". It absolutely brilliant as it explains everything that you'd need to know ie the "learning" phase, the "correction phase and the "distraction" phase. The methods are ones which are used in many police forces is the U.S. and Europe, thus uses choke/check chain, but if you can complete Ed Frawley's course, you'll have the most obedient dog you could ever ask for!!!!In dog training this method you need to judge how "hard" your dog is. "Hard" meaning on a correction level from 1 to 10, if you have to give a level 7 correction to your dog, it is considered a hard dog - someone who needs a harsher correction than a dog on level 1, whom may wet themself when told off.
A few points when training your dog:-
(1) always make sure that your pup/dog is in good health, if your pup/dog has an ear infection, you give a command , he/she doesn't hear you, you give a correction, he/she thinks "what the bloody hell was that for"????? your bond can be easily broken, which can lead to behavioural problems in future
(2) Your job when training your pup/dog is to GUIDE your dog through the excercises. Keep this in mind when giving a correction, or telling your pup/dog off. "Its like training a killer whale to jump through a hoop. You wouldn't correct it everytime he didn't jump through the hoop would you?!!!"( i read that somewhere). One command, may have three of four different parts to it so you must teach the pup/dog each little part at a time (this is explained more in Ed's video)
(3) THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, DOGS LEARN THE MOST WHEN THEY ARE HAVING FUN. MAKE SURE HIS/HER TAIL IS ALWAYS WAGGING. REMEMBER, ITS A TIME FOR YOU AND YOUR DOG TO STRENGTHEN THE BOND BETWEEN YOU!!!
Good luck
Josh_

Hi i am at the moment taking my 11 week old Bull Terrier to puppy classes and the way that we are being told to do this is to sit on the floor with your knees up and put the treat under your leg and make the pup come under your leg and when it is low enough say DOWN and then praise it. It is working well fro me at the moment.Have a go.
Kim

I teach the Down from a stand and use clicker and really nice treats, cheese i remember in Banya's case.

Start with treat close to dog's nose, then take it down to between dog's paws, with any luck the dog will Down in which case click as the dog goes into position and treat.

The dog may do a play bow or paw at food, wait it out and it will almost certainly go down. If not then lure the dog under your bent leg as you sit on the floor :)

Repeat lots. When dog is proficient, add the word and keep repeating, also without food treat in the hand.

The dog learns hadn signal as well with this one :)

Pros - very easy as dog does the work. Fun, fast, dog enjoys exercise and get hand signal.

Cons - Have to phase out food, this is no problem as long as you know how to do it :) but can cause a problem with some dogs only responding when food is in hand. Done properly dog will obey the command with enthusiasm even when no reward evident.

(So I progress as well to using a toy as a treat - food for teaching, tous for motivation as Jo Hill suggests.)

i stand by the pup and put a tasty nibble under the toe of my shoe. the pup sniffs and tries to get it. i don't lift my foot, and fairly quickly the pup drops into the "down" to try to get it! immediately as the pup lies down i lift my foot,pup gets the nibble. they cotton onto this after only 2 or 3 tries. once pup has got the hang of it, i also say the word "down"as the pup lies down. to progress, have 1 nibble under the foot, but when the pup goes down throw a different titbit from your hand to the pup. soon pup wil drop on the "down" command, and also on the foot signal of tapping the foot on the floor. my affie took about a day to get this right, at 10 weeks,so it really is effective!

I do not use voice commands, My first instruction to pup is to sit, See reply in SIT thread, from the sitting position which has been attained by using an open hand, with my hand now facing palm downwards I lower my hand a few inches and at the same time pressing very gently on shoulders and neck of pup, (never force a pup down this will lead to injury) also pup will learn to press against you., pup watches my hand go down to ground and thinks there is something there and will go down with it to look under my hand. Again I have found it very useful to include one of my older dogs and have found the pups will follow their lead very quickly.

Kay