Teaching puppy to use the down command????

[chrisogle32]

I have a 3 1/2 month old female that I am trying to teach her the down command. I am looking for some suggestions on the best way to do this. She has learned to sit on command/hand signal, and stay for a minute or two, but I have not had to much success in getting her to go down from that position. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :D

[Justic]

Loverotties,

My boy required a choke collar to understand "DOWN" I tried and tried to use a treat. Put him/her in a sit and put a treat in front of their nose bring it to the ground. You may want to try putting a little pressure on the shoulders to get her in the down.

With the choke collar on I just simply grabbed the ring and gently brought may hand to the floor commanding "down" once he was down there was a lot of praise and a treat. I did this at 5 minutes a clip every 45 minutes for one day after that he FULLY understood down. As a FYI Justice cried alot the first time (not from pressure) he was just not use to the choker. After the 3-4 down he never cried again.

Oh yeah one last thing. When the puppy is tiring or taking a nap or just going to lay down. Try to throw the command at him/her before they lie down. Then when they are down you can praise for down :D kindof cheating but it works.

[chrisogle32]

I have used the treat technique and she follows my hand down by looking down at it and wanting what is in my hand. I have been grabbing her feet and sliding her down, but that has not worked yet. I do have a choke collar for her and she has been in it some while we were trying to teach her to walk on a leash. She does not pull as much now as she did but I have moved to a harnass to save our arm muscles while she is learning to walk right beside us.

[Taulmaril]

I'm a new Rottie owner but have owned other large breeds and I think that your pup is too yound to be using a choke collar on. I taught my 11 week old Rott the down command using the treat method the first few times I put her in sit and then said down and picked up her front feet and put her down and then give the treat. She is doing is very well now and that was only 2 days ago.

[Justic]

LOL...I know my arms getting much more conditioning now adays

Well if your comfortable with it try the choke technique, your not actually choking the dog though. THe rings should be under the neck so the pressure is put downward.. But if not...don't give up she'll get it. Just use the down command when she goes to lie down and keep up with what your doing. Keep sessions short. Our pups are VERY smart and can get bored. Always end the session on a positive note, with something she already knows.

[Mrstattedup]

Before I found this forum..I read in another site about the "cold turkey" down command for 30 min...be sure to have her on a leash..when time is up..give the release command or "okay"..and praise..but don't make a big deal about it..at first she will fight and yelp..like you're trying to kill her..but it won't be long before she gives up..it's okay if she falls asleep..as long as she stays "down"..make sure she understands the sound of "doowwwwnnnn"...you're suppose to do this for a week straight..I tried this on my other pup before I gave her to my in-law..it did work!..I didn't do this to my rotti till she was 8 weeks..but I only did it once..that's all it took!..I know it seems cruel..but I heard it's not..and Rotties are very intelligent..she caught on all the basic commands in less than a week..all verbal!
The treat technique very works well also..! Good luck! :)

[trillogy]

what I did..(and I read it somewhere here) is two things..

when my girl would lay down I would say "good down" even though she really did not know what I was saying at first....

I did that for a while

then after teaching her sit, I would tell her to sit, then I would sit in front of her like this...
I would sit with my back against the wall, couch etc...and stretch my legs out flat. She would sit either to the right or left of me facing my outstretched legs. In other words...her nose was at my knees.
Hope that makes sense..
Then I would take whatever leg was closet to her and bring my leg up so that there was very little space between my leg and the floor. I would hold the treat under my leg so that she had to stretch out and go into a "down" to get the treat. As soon as she was completely down, no pauses, I would say "good down" and give her the treat and praise her. After a few times she just got it and I did not have to go through all of that.


Hope this helps

[bjonesjr]

if you've got the sit command under control, you've done your firs step. from a sit, with a treat in your hand move the treat at the same at the same level command stand, if he attempts to walk place your hand in front of his hind legs. Move the treat away form him with out letting him walk to the treat to get into a stand position. once in the stand position with a treat in you hand command lay or down which ever command you wish to use. Take the treat from in front of him; place it very low between his front paws pushing it in a backward motion until he goes into the lay position. This should cause him to have to lay. This is how I was taught and works very well.

Good luck
bjones

[Carina43]

Once she's sitting, it's easy. Lower the treat from her nose level straight down between her paws. At first she will try to stand & bend over for the treat, so keep a hand on her butt, so she has to lie down. Tell her good down, lots of happy praise!

Personally I would not use a choke collar on a little pup. I think positive training with lots of praise & treats makes it more fun for the puppy, and they are more likely to *want* to perform...not because they "have" to, but because they "want" to!

[Lora Lee]

Wowzers!! NO choke collar....not on any dog under 4 months of age unless he will NOT respond to any other method...then you need a trainer, to show you how to properly use a choke collar. I fid it's misused, by the general person.....if anything look into a check choke or chin lead before using the original choke chain collar.

I use a flat, wide collar for puppy training. All they need is a little tug, and it's not war! I teach all commands (except for sit) with this collar and have no problems, the corrections is a gentle tug. To teach down, the dog must frist know sit and stay. From a sit position, command down and gently pull the dog/and place the dog at the same time into the down position. I then stand on the lead, commanding stay...good stay, or nice down...I release with "okay"....do it a few more times each day and your dog will understand. I want the dogs chin on the ground when I teach down.

I also use a hand signal for down, from a stay positon bring your hand forward/down and straight to your side. Means DOWN. Be consistant, and end on a good note. Your pup is still a baby, we don't expect to teach newborns how to talk right away...don't expect your pup to know everyting right away either :)

[Hoss]

I have a wonderful tape set on training your puppies for the show ring. One of the main things they say is to NEVER teach a pup to lay down from a sit position IF your gonna dog competition in obedience. Pups should learn to lay from a standing position if your gonna compete.
If your not gonna compete...skip what I just said!!!!!!! LOL!!!!

[Lora Lee]

Originally posted by Hoss:
I have a wonderful tape set on training your puppies for the show ring. One of the main things they say is to NEVER teach a pup to lay down from a sit position IF your gonna dog competition in obedience. Pups should learn to lay from a standing position if your gonna compete.

And what tape set would that be??

My handy dandy AKC training mannual states "To teach your dog to lie down on command, SIT it by your side....Tell the dog "Down!" and put it into the down position by lifting the front feet off the ground and easing the body down until the dog is in a lying position."

I believe the dog should be tought from a sit position first...then stand position. You can do both ya know. Whether you compete or not ;)

[Hoss]

Lora Lee,
The video is called "AnneMaries Silverton's COmpetitive Obedience"

In it when she talks of the laying down command, she says to teach them from the standing position becasue if you want them in AGILITY they need to be the quickest they can be at laying down and must do it from a stand position anyway.

It is down by...AnneMarie who is said to be one of the top odedience trainers of all time. She and her students have obtained multiple Gaines wins and perfect 200 scores. SHe is owner of the Silverton School for Dogs in california. (copied of back of box)She has been on the Pet channel many times on cable.

But..I still teach my pup from a sit position too....