Teaching "lay down"?

[wykid]

Hi! I've been trying to teach Barkley "lay down" and having a hard time. He learned sit and shake with only about 10 minutes of work each, so he's pretty smart, but he's just not understanding the concept of this one. I've tried telling him to sit first, then gently pulling his front legs out, to get him into the down position, but he fights it and refuses. I don't want to push him down to the floor because he fights that, as well, and I don't want to hurt him. I've even tried having him sit and then pulling the treat away, along the floor, in hopes that he will lay down to get it. LOL Does anyone have some advice for me, to make this easier? I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

[JiJi's Mom]

Hmm, I think I did position JiJi in the lay down position. I'm not sure she knows the difference between all of them. I say sit and she does all her moves.

[Nikki's Mom]

Here is a good Youtube video that teaches down. Good luck!! :)



<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="960" height="750" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WmwJWAAv6so" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Nikki's Mom]

Oops! Sorry, try this!

http://youtu.be/WmwJWAAv6so

[wykid]

Thank you :)

LOL My Cairn used to do that too, everytime we'd break out the treats :lol2:

[sdkath]

Ginger absolutely would not go down, even with a treat. Our trainer (who comes to our house) has us put a collar on her and a short leash. Then we get her to sit. Then we put our foot on the leash close to her body and while we are stepping on the leash, we slowly pull the end of the leash upwards (thereby forcing her to go down to the floor) while saying "down". We only had to do this about 10x and then we could just say "down" while she would get down. I think little dogs have a hard time with down. My bigger dog I trained the way the youtube video suggests in only about 10 minutes. Ginger is a different story! :hearter:

Katherine

[Daisy517]

I try to go with one word commands to simplify things, so a firm "down" while lowering the treat to the ground usually works. Release the treat the moment she's down followed by a high pitch praise. It may take some time & lots of patience, but eventually they give up and automatically assume the down position, in which you will need to reward immediately. This works for Daisy. Good luck & hang in there.

Daisy recently learned how to roll over. I'm so proud of her :hearter:

[angeleyes]

Oops! Sorry, try this!

http://youtu.be/WmwJWAAv6so



Oops...Lori, did you post one of your pole dancing videos by mistake:eek:

[Daisy517]

Oops...Lori, did you post one of your pole dancing videos by mistake:eek:

Sounds like you really want to join Sue :lol2:

Baboon bottoms will steal the show. Bring your monopoly $.

[wykid]

Thanks for all the suggestions :) I'm going to try them out with him tomorrow and hopefully get this down.

[plumie]

lol... I use the word sleep instead of lay down.
Pani will understand "sit" "paw" "sleep" and "rollover"
i wish she will understand the word "stay":blush:

[Zo zo's mom]

I taught both girls the same way. After they mastered "sit", I would put the fluffs on my bed (easier for her to make eye contact with me) and put her in a sit. I would take a tasty treat and put it under her chin and draw it slowly to the bed while saying "Down". It took a few tries, but they learn to associate doing the motion with getting a treat.

Be sure to practice training often. Practice does make perfect.

Good luck!

[wykid]

Yesterday, we tried again, pulling the treat down from his nose, and he flopped over. LOL But hey, it's progress! :D Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

[Nikki's Mom]

Yesterday, we tried again, pulling the treat down from his nose, and he flopped over. LOL But hey, it's progress! :D Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

:lol2::lol2: I can just picture that!! So cute! Oh, and we need to see some more pics of that cute little guy so we can all have our puppy fix!! :D

[ilovemysnow]

I agree!! VIDEOS PLEASE TOO IF YOU CAN!!! I never had a puppy!! Please share the joy! Lol

and Snow just learned to lay down when I say "go to sleep".. Because every night when I hold him for bed, I say "go to sleep" and i lay him down and close my eyes... Now when i'm holding him and he's laying on my arms, and I say "go to sleep".. he'll close his eyes slowly as if he's going to sleep. Lol so cute!

[wykid]

Snow "going to sleep" sounds so cute LOL I did add a few more pictures to my profile and I have a video of him attacking his puppy chow, which he does ALL the time LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdtevWArAQ

[Zuly4034]

:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2: He wanted to kill that kibble. :lol2::lol2: He is so cute.