I was curious how Bernhard teaches the down. I can't remember if it is in the drive video or I read it somewhere on the site, but I heard that he does not teach the down until the dogs are much older than normal because it is a submissive position and it will reduce the drive or cause problems with a dominant dog. My question then is when it comes time to teach it, how does he do it. Just wondering if anyone knows?

Bernhard teaches a "down in drive" with the dog awaiting the release to gain it's toy/ball/tug. The dogs trained in this method hit the deck at warp speed, it's nice to see with the right dog.

It works best with a "level-headed dog", in Bernhards words. I still train my down primarily with food as I've found that this portion of training with Bernhard's methods don't seem to work as well with super high drive dogs.
Of course, it may be just me! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I don't remember any discussion in the videos about waiting to teach the down till the dog is older; but he does say the dog must have drive and focus before doing any obedience at all. I could have missed that at a seminar, tho.

I just extrapolated from the video, which goes through this part of training in drive and focus, the chapter titled 'teaching the sit'. With my dog, it only took two or the times with a collar, leash and ball for her to get the idea. I used Bernard's way for speed, but for precision I did use marker trainng with food. With my dog, tho, training=drive, so now I have a dog who will refuse too much food reward and start trying to play tug with the bait bag! :rolleyes: So I use it infrequently.

My dog has a very drop dead platz now; when she goes from standing to platz, she just folds back so fast her hair flies forward (she is a long hair) and melts from my side from a fuss; from a sit she THROWS herself on the ground. It is very snappy, and it was easy to teach. The faster the commands come, the faster her reaction, until we are both a blur of action and reaction. Drivey, short nerved dogs are so much fun!

Of course, teaching the fast down is easy, teaching the stay down is a bit more difficult, all the whining and quivering...that we are still working on!

edited