My 6 month old pup is now in the correction phase of training behaviors. He often lays down when I ask for a sit after receiving a correction. Do you have any suggestions?

Hey Cindy,

I am contacting you because I am a dog trainer and I have recently stumbled across something that I have not encountered before and I am not exactly sure how to correct it. I have a 6 month American pit bull terrier that I am using for a demonstration dog. He is very smart, and attentive. I have taken him through the learning phase for basic obedience (come, sit, down, down stay), so he knows the difference between sit and down. But when entering the correction phase I have found that he will often just lay down when given the command to sit. It seems he thinks this position is the ultimate safe zone when corrections are concerned. If I am just doing the training using positive reinforcement he sits a Que every time and knows the difference between down and sit. But once given a level 4 or 5 correction for refusing to down, it seems that every time he is told to sit, he just goes into the down position (and he seems to do the same when given a level 1 or 2 correction). I have both your video on Basic Dog Obedience and Remote Collar Training. I have a fairly strong understanding about dogs drives, how to judge their hardness or softness, and how to gauge the level of correction for refusals. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.