My 3 year old female lab just will not perform the down command. She is very active, loves to play fetch and I have tried the recommendations from the basic dog obedience dvd, but still no go. She is totally trained using the dogtra collar but I never felt the need to teach the down. Now I want to and it is a problem. Any suggestions?

my girl might not be as drivey as yours but what help me teach the down/stay was excercising the snot out of them first. Does she know what "Down" means?

Could you tell us what you've tried?

5 miles on a four wheeler, 15 rounds of .22 ammo with the decoy launcher and 15 sling shotted tennis balls and my Lab has trouble with the down also......it is a Lab thing I think....

But, what have you tried? I do not train obedience with an e-collar, it is all done starting with a flat collar, lead and treats......

She knows what it means. At night when she is in the house with my wife she will perform for a split second, but as soon as she is told good girl she is up and wagging her tail. She is very excitable.

Everything short of sitting on her. It was suggested that I put a prong collar on her and give her the command using my foot on the leash and push down until she obeys. Sounds a little drastic!

 Quote: curt waite

She knows what it means. At night when she is in the house with my wife she will perform for a split second, but as soon as she is told good girl she is up and wagging her tail. She is very excitable.

Is she taking "Good girl" to be a release? It sounds like it might be the case.

Are you increasing the time very very slowly? In various locations? I do several sessions (very short) every day when teaching the down, and reward only if the dog stays down..... and the reward is down there, too.

I also use my voice in a "wait" tone: "goooood" but not a bright "good girl" kind of "all done" voice..... more of a drawn out voice.

And I walk or play or otherwise tire the dog before this kind of command, as Dennis pointed out.

2 things you should do:
One is at the park, back tie her with a long line and put her on a down almost at the end of the line and tell her "down".Walk away , go further and further as the exercise is going well.Go back to her after a minute and give her a treat, she should not move from her down even when you walk up to her to give her a treat.(U do not have to say anything)walk away again and remind her before you walk away"down" even if she is down still(which she should be). Make sure she has her leash on(dragging on the ground , even though she is back tied.So that if she breaks her down , walk up to her and again put her in her down (same spot).The back tie is for re-enforcement in case she decides to bolt on you ,she'll get a small correction and after time she'll learn not to bolt out on you.
When you are in the house do the same except now you will not back tie her but keep her leash on and live it on the ground .When you put her on her down, walk around say few words that have nothing to do with her(just to get her used to you talking while she is down).Some dogs as soon as they hear a voice they break from their position.SO talk a bit as she is in her down, if she gets up don't say anything to her and take her back to her spot and put her back on her down.If she is doing good give her her treat and don't say anything to her.Repeat all that in small increments.It works ,you have to be patient and do it often enough to imprint that exercise in your dogs mind.Down is a good position and a secure one.Hope this helped, it has for me...

 Quote: Angelique Cadogan

Some dogs as soon as they hear a voice they break from their position.SO talk a bit as she is in her down,

That's a new suggestion (for me), and a very good one.