Our canine behavioural experts demonstrate three different approaches to teaching your dog a ‘Down’ command.
View the audio transcript for this video
Teaching a dog who can sit
Step one
With a fetid regale in your bridge player, ask your cad to sit ( on the mat, if you have one. ) angstrom soon as they sit, let them sniff the treat and slowly lure their nose down to between their battlefront paws, keeping the dainty touching their nose. If they stand up, startle over, and ask them to sit again. a soon as your cad lies down, praise them, and reward them with the cover.
Reading: How to teach a dog to lie down
You may find that your dog hovers with their elbows off the deck for a while before lying down. If they stay like this then stand them up and try again, this meter rewarding them for about lying down. duplicate until they fully relax into lying down .
Step two
Repeat the action until your chase is following the treat entice and lying down systematically. Take it a step far by going through the first base step again, but this time with a treat in both hands. Bring your cad down with one bridge player, and reward them with the treat in your other hired hand .
Step three
now, with no regale, move your hand to the floor and say “ down ”. Your dog may merely look down at your hired hand without lying down. If this happens, tuck a cover between your decoration and your thumb and repeat the signal of moving your pass to the floor. a soon as your dog lies down, praise them and give them a treat. repeat this three times in succession and on the fourth repetition, use the lapp hand movement but with no cover. This will allow you to move on to giving the instruction without the expectation of food .
Step four
once your dog is comfortable with the hand signals, you can get your chase to lie down on voice prompt alone. Say “ down ”, wait three seconds, give them the hand sign, and reward them for lying down. Repeat this a few times, increasing the seconds between voice cue and hand signal until your pawl makes the connection between the two and responds to the voice cue alone.
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Step five
now your andiron understands how to lie down on discriminative stimulus, start to phase out the treat reward ( but not the praise ). Prioritise giving treats for faster devour, but you should hush give praise for slower downs. once your dog is lying down on command you can give treats every now and then, or if the environment is particularly perturb .
Teaching dogs who cannot sit
If your chase can not sit, there are a few adjustments that can be made .
Greyhound-shaped dogs
With your frump standing on a blanket, hold a fetid treat in your hand. Let them sniff the treat and slowly lure their nose down towards their chest, on to the deck. As they lie down, praise them and give them a treat. once your frank is comfortable with this, you can continue with steps two – five above.
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Dogs with short legs
sit on the floor, or on a across-the-board, with your legs in movement of you, bent up at the stifle. Use a fetid treat to direct your andiron to crawl under your legs. When their back end goes to the floor, praise them and reward them with a dainty. Practise this several times until your cad is readily lying down. once this feels comfortable, continue with steps two – five above .
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Advice sheet