ok i understand that when you teach the long down you have to increase the time incrementaly. you know start out at 30 sec than a min and so on, my question is this my dog will hold a down with me in sight for about a min and half at 11months old. what is a reasonable expectation as far as time goes on a long down.

oh and she will hold an informal one in the living room at my feet while i watch tv for god knows how long.

just wonder what would be considered reasonable goal for the long down

I think your next step should be a long down under distractions, as creative as you can get.That will reinforce the down and force your dog to make the desicion to stay down no matter what.

thanks been uping the distractions as of late but need to up the anti

I have had good luck with starting distractions after they can down for 5 min. I don't make them hold it under the distractions for more than 30 seconds and then go up. Every dog is different but I find that 5 min will usually get me 30 seconds under light to med distractions without a mistake. Of course now that I have said that none of my dogs will do it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

What are some good ways to distract a dog?

I have an ecollar, but I can't risk my dog taking off after someone at the park.

Any good tactics for adding distraction in the backyard? Something just my wife and I can do.

Just a side note, my dog is immune to my wife being a distraction. The rule is; don't say the dog's name and don't say come, everything else is fair. He never falls for her, is this because he "knows" her. She's not truly distracting because he sees her everyday?

looking for ideas for distractions -- the Utah Protection Sport Club had some great ideas. They used plastic milk jugs with rocks/marbles and caution tape tied to handle for streamers. These make alot of noise when tossed/kicked around. They also used some of the kids toys - soccer ball, noodles, horns, even water guns. They also used tarps and walked on them for a noise effect. It was impressive to watch a dog maintain a long down with a dressed helper walking around them and water being sprayed on their head . But the thing to realize is the reward was worth the effort -- in this case a bite on the sleeve , and the dogs clearly understood what they had to do to win the reward.

Be sure it is clear to the dog that he stays in the platz till the release or another command and to reward the success.

The club I am with now trains this exercise as strict obedience -- the dog must also maintain eye contact throughout the entire down with the handler (at the other end of the long line). They use intermittent food reward as a reinforcer to help the dogs to succeed. As well they don't release directly from the long down , they always return to the dogs' right side, calm stroking for praise and then command sit/fuss since that is the finish position of this exercise. By the way they correct (pop of the line on fursaver) for the dog watching the other dog working , for the dog sniffing the ground , also for any whining.

In the sch trials the dog has to maintain the down for the entire ob routine of the other dog ~10mins.

Develop clear communication and reward the successes even if they are in small steps. Good luck

David,

This is the progression I learned.

1. Time
2. Distance
3. Distraction

Achieve the desired Time goal, then begin on Distance from the dog (beginning with a shorter time expectation...progresing toward the Time goal once again).
Then begin distraction work, starting with low Time and Distance expectations and progressing toward your orginal Time and Distance goals, which ultimatley leads to integrating all three variables. Remember to TEACH each variable independent of one another, then integrate.
This sounds tedious, but can actually be achieved rather quickly through clear expectation & consistent repetition.

John,

Good point. I was making the assumption this was already incorporated into the training. But it is soooo easy to jump ahead too quickly.

David, this is very well explained in the Leerburg tape: Basic Obedience. Also they clearly explain at what point in the training the dog is ready to work off leash.