Teaching our dog the "DOWN"...
In competitive obedience, there are some trainers
that suggest teaching the Down (and Sit) as one
of the last things before going to an obedience
trial. Their reasoning is based on the observation
that most dogs that have learned these commands
early on don't show Down or Sit with the speed
and enthusiasm that a trial judge would want to
see. While I agree with their observation, I don't
agree that this is a product of starting to train
these behaviors too early. If you read through
my Fundamentals chapter, you might remember that I suggested to
keep training sessions short and to give your
dog a break once he understands what the command
means. Don't over-train and always make sure your
dog has fun - the result will be a dog that happily
follows your commands at all (most) times.
Getting to Down in a few simple steps:
Step 1 |
Get your treats and your clicker (in case
you use one of those).
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Step 2 |
Make sure your dog can focus exclusively
on you and avoid any disturbance.
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Step
3 |
Bring your dog in the Sit position.
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Step
4 |
Calmly kneel down in front of your dog
with the treat in your hand.
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Step
5 |
In one motion, move your fingers with the
treat to his nose so he can smell the treat
and continue on to move your finger closely
from the tip of his nose straight downwards
to the floor. Most dogs will follow your
fingers (yummy treat's) movement and lie
down to get the treat.
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Step
6 |
When your dog lies down, mark the behavior
(Click or "Yes"), feed the treat to your
dog and praise him. If your dog does not
go all the way down at first, reward him
for his attempt and then withhold the reward
next time until he goes a little lower.
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Step
7 |
If you and your dog are doing a good job,
he should soon lie down each time you move
your hand to the floor. Once he is at that
point, you can introduce the spoken Down
command. Speak the Down command in a friendly
and encouraging manner every time your dog
starts to get into the Down position.
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Step
8 |
Once your dog understands the spoken command,
he will go into the Down position once you
say it.
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What if ?
Q: What if my dog does not try to follow the
treat?
A: Make sure he is hungry enough - and get a
tastier treat!
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