# Teaching "Down"



## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Hi all! I've been trying to teach Nana "down" and for the most part, she gets it... but only if I crouch to the floor and tap the floor with my hand. 

She understood "sit" immediately and is pretty much a sitting expert. She sits and stays before her meal, sits before we go out, before we come in, for the leash, and pretty much whenever she's confused on what she's supposed to do haha. I can tell her to sit in any way and she (mostly) immediately sits. 

But "Lie Down" she can't quite get yet- I work with her for 5-10 minute intervals twice a day, and she understands lie down only if I get to the floor and tap it. She looks extreeeemely confused when I tell her to lie down when I'm standing, and we've been working on this for the past week. 

Any tips? If I just keep working on it and telling her to lie down while tapping the floor, will she just eventually get it?

I have a habit on basing puppy behavior on my last dog- and Nana is just so completely different from her, haha. My last dog was so focused during training, Nana, not so much.


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## mickeychick (Jul 19, 2012)

OMG she's so cute! She's young yet, give her time to become consistent. I was told in order to get the to lie down, hold a treat in your hand. Hold it in front of her mouth and sort of move your hand down to the floor with the treat in front of her. She'll follow your hand with her mouth which will cause her to go down to the floor. As she does it, say "down" or "lay down" and tell her "good girl".


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## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

That's how I've always taught all my dogs 'down', seems to really click with them. Good luck. BTW there are several videos on youtube that demonstrate this technique.



mickeychick said:


> OMG she's so cute! She's young yet, give her time to become consistent. I was told in order to get the to lie down, hold a treat in your hand. Hold it in front of her mouth and sort of move your hand down to the floor with the treat in front of her. She'll follow your hand with her mouth which will cause her to go down to the floor. As she does it, say "down" or "lay down" and tell her "good girl".


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Oh no, it's not that I can't get her to lie down, sorry if that was confusing. It's just that I can't get her to lie down without getting to the floor and tapping the ground. She lies down every time I do that- she just doesn't lie down if I don't tap the ground.


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## dborgers (Dec 7, 2011)

Have her sit by putting a treat between your thumb and index finger with the rest of your fingers forming a palm above her nose which will become a 45 degree angle to the floor as you move it backwards directly in front of her nose. She'll follows it as you move back to sit. Reward her with the treat.

Grab another treat while she's sitting and hold it in front of her nose - palm down flat - and move the treat slowly towards the floor until she follows it down and lays down. Reward her with the treat. Works like a charm.

She'll also learn hand signals that way too.

This site explains the technique, but doesn't include the hand signal aspect (Palm angling towards the floor for sit and flat to the ground for 'lay down'):

How to Train A Puppy To Lay Down


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

" I can't get her to lie down without getting to the floor and tapping the ground."

Most dogs watch our body language and our hands more than they understand our words. It sounds like your baby understands your hand signal of tapping the floor as the down command. 
You can slowly adjust your hand signal and body posture to upright over time or you can start over as if from the beginning but doing something different than going to the floor and tapping.

If you want to make the adjustment I would praise and reward for the tapping a few times then I would no longer tap the floor but put my hand on the floor and when she downs reward that for a little while then don't put your hand all the way to the floor but close to the floor at this point I would start attempting to bring my body up also. Eventually using the hand signal in the flat motion in front of you in as you had on the floor with you standing.
In order to get the verbal after you have the hand signal corrected to what you want I would then say your verbal command and then use your hand signal. After doing that for awhile I would then try to just use your verbal command. This way you are building associations.


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

It would be much easier to start over and follow the instructions in Dborgers link above.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

That is a great photo of Nana. She is very young. Give her some time and she will get it.


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## dborgers (Dec 7, 2011)

Treats are the key to everything when it comes to training. My wife got me trained that way too LOL


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## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

hhmm after 43 yrs do you think it's too late for me to try that training trick? LOL



dborgers said:


> Treats are the key to everything when it comes to training. My wife got me trained that way too LOL


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## dborgers (Dec 7, 2011)

Bentleysmom said:


> hhmm after 43 yrs do you think it's too late for me to try that training trick? LOL


Ha! I don't think so. The secret is using the right treats LOL


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Actually rather than putting the treat out in front of the pup try putting down between it's legs by it's chest. Less likely for the pup to either get up on it's hind legs or cheat and not get it's elbows down. Just my preference.


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Thanks for the advice!

Again, it's not that I can't get her to go down. She will lay down 100% everytime I guide her down to the floor. I'll try the gradually standing up- sounds like it'll work. She's a smart little bug.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Have you tried doing a hand motion instead of tapping your hand down on the floor. I really like Victoria Stilwell teaching techniques.


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Yes! I always accompany all commands with hand motions. It's how I bridged my last dog over to understanding commands in Chinese (for my parents).


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

keep on doing the hand motions and give her time. How old is she? She is absolutely adorable.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Charmie said:


> Oh no, it's not that I can't get her to lie down, sorry if that was confusing. It's just that I can't get her to lie down without getting to the floor and tapping the ground. She lies down every time I do that- she just doesn't lie down if I don't tap the ground.


Every couple days, bend over just a smidge less than before. So,to start, you bend over and *almost* tap the floor (you can make the gesture, just don't touch the floor). It's very close to what she's used to, so she'll likely get it. Then, over time, shrink your body movements by approx 1" (like every 5 days or so, shrink it up). And if you want her to learn the word down (w/o needing any body movement on your part), say the word FIRST and THEN add your gestural (body) cue. 

So - "down" > and then bend/tap just as much as she needs. Don't say the word as you gesture, or else she'll view the cue as a packaged deal ... i.e. the cue for down is the word spoken as you bend ... and that's not what you want.

And finally ... patience, grasshopper! Looks like she's a lil' baby dog!


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Claudia M said:


> keep on doing the hand motions and give her time. How old is she? She is absolutely adorable.


 She's 10 weeks old! 

Yeah, she's a little baby. I do need to be patient. Thanks everyone!

Edit: Oh yeah, and yes! Gradually standing up is working  I don't have to crouch on the floor anymore. I just have to bend over now!


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## desi.n.nutro (Mar 18, 2011)

I suggest that you stop tapping on the floor, RIGHT AWAY. It is about to become part of the command. It is the same as...(Is the command sit or is it SIT sit Sit. I said sit.) Maybe if you point to the floor?


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I agree with the tapping. What if you had to tell her to lie down on carpet? 

To be honest Molly knows a few different hand signals for each command (talk about consistency). I started teaching her at home, and then puppy class had different signals, and then obedience had other signals as well.. It was a good thing she was able to pick them up quickly.


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Vhuynh2 said:


> I agree with the tapping. What if you had to tell her to lie down on carpet?


Oh haha the entire apartment (kitchen and bathroom excluded) is carpeted. She lays if I tap the carpet too. But anyways, yes, I've been transitioning slowly to standing up and now she gets it without the tapping!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Charmie said:


> Edit: Oh yeah, and yes! Gradually standing up is working  I don't have to crouch on the floor anymore. I just have to bend over now!


Yay! Great news! Keep up the good work!


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Thanks for all the help!  She's quickly becoming a "down" master too, haha. She's getting to stay longer and longer, too. I'm so proud!


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