when I put the food in front of my dog as he is sitting and then lower it to the ground and away from him a little he just bends down and forward to the food instead of laying down. any better ways to teach on command to lay down ?
Sometimes teaching the down from a stand is easier (and for competition ob, better for reasons I won't get into).
If you can get the dog to lower his front end, the rear will follow.
If you are using marker training, you can just wait the dog out until it gets bored and lays down, mark and reward.
You can also name, mark and reward when the dog randomly lays down on it's own during the day.
I've also seen some trainers lure the dog into the down, by sitting on the floor with the dog, with one leg bent at a 45 degree angle, foot flat on the floor. They then lure the dog to crawl under the leg to follow a treat, thus creating the down position.
We used a lure method to teach Maggie. We put the treat between her front feet, fist closed. The front end went down immediately, fist opened when the back end went down. She has the funniest down now. She pounces into the down like the treat (that isn't even there anymore) might escape. I'm hoping that will fade a bit with practice and age. It's nothing that bothers me enough to specifically work on.
Howard Knauf Webboard User Reg: 09-24-2003
Posts: 1555
Loc: Melbourne, Florida
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I tie the dog back first. The sit is already taught so I command the sit. I use a treat in the hand and let him sniff it. I then lure the dog to the end of the leash and move my hand to the ground. The treat is kept just out of reach and the dog will naturally down in an attempt to get closer to it. I give the down command and as soon as he's all the way down I mark with "yes" then reward with the treat. Once the down is solid I introduce the hand command.
Another method you can try if treats aren't working is the use of a collar attached to a lead. It doesn't have to be a prong or training collar, it can be any type of collar. You are not correcting into the down just showing him what you want him to do. Pull straight down on the leash with little slack between the collar and leash pulling toward the ground while gently pressing down on the dogs back with your arm, hard to explain, easy to show.Give the voice command down simultaneously while doing the movement. This works best if the dog is already in a sit. I then mark the behavior with verbal praise or a treat, whatever works for your dog. I then release the dog immediatly.
I do like physical molding methods, but I try to find the ones that are the gentlest on the dog. The goal of using molding methods is not just to get the behavior, but to get the dog accustomed to being handled, so you can mold him in different ways as needed for medical care, emergencies, etc...
We taught the "sit" first, by bringing the food up over his head until he sat down. Once knew that, we put him into a sit and lured him down from there. We taught it when he was a pup, didn't take too long for him to figure it out.
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