# I cant teach my golden retriever to go Down



## olliversmom

Maybe try to hold the treat just a little further away, out of his mouth reach and slowly bring it down. This way he has to kinda stretch his neck and head and the momentum and downward motion might help him get down there.


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## Maximo and Sam

Thanks A lot for the quick reply. Ive seen others thread and i noticed you in mostly all of them. thanks once again for your help!Ill try it this way


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## JayBen

At 3 months old he's just a baby. You can't expect the world out of him right now. It took us a while to learn down. You can try getting her in a sit...Then put the treat at her nose while holding his but down (so it doesn't pop up) and make the treat go forward and to the floor. He should go down. Whatever you do just enjoy your pup and don't get frustrated with training. Training has to be fun for you and your dog. If your frustrated they _will_ know it.
Just another thing; you said your teaching "come". Whatever you do don't ruin your word by saying it when they aren't going to come and you have no way to enforce it. When my dog was your dogs age our trainer advised us to to this to start introducing "come"....Get a handful of treats and put a few down on the floor for the dog...run to the other side of the room....when the dog starts running towards you say "good come"...put down more treats...and repeat.


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## Maximo and Sam

JayBen said:


> At 3 months old he's just a baby. You can't expect the world out of him right now. It took us a while to learn down. You can try getting her in a sit...Then put the treat at her nose while holding his but down (so it doesn't pop up) and make the treat go forward and to the floor. He should go down. Whatever you do just enjoy your pup and don't get frustrated with training. Training has to be fun for you and your dog. If your frustrated they _will_ know it.
> Just another thing; you said your teaching "come". Whatever you do don't ruin your word by saying it when they aren't going to come and you have no way to enforce it. When my dog was your dogs age our trainer advised us to to this to start introducing "come"....Get a handful of treats and put a few down on the floor for the dog...run to the other side of the room....when the dog starts running towards you say "good come"...put down more treats...and repeat.


Thanks A lot! Ill try that butt thing -


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## Megora

Couple things to do:

1. Every time your puppy lies down on his own - make sure you are right there and saying "GOOD DOWN!!!!" and rewarding. Make the position very positive and rewarding. 

2. If you practice the command with your puppy, you will be sitting on the floor with the puppy right there next to you. It's easier to teach with the puppy sitting first. So have puppy sitting.

You will take a very high value treat (like a piece of lunch meat) and let your puppy sniff or nibble at it while you slowly lure down. You will be putting your hand down practically towards his actual belly, while gently keeping a hand on the butt. 

The instant your puppy makes a move down (even without a complete down), you draw the hand back and let the puppy get the treat. And you repeat a few more times until you get an actual down - stop what you are doing and do something else. 

Train the downs again later in the day - same thing. Try to get one good one to go nuts about, break off do something else, etc. 

And all through this time - every time he lays down on his own - you need to be marking that action and praising it.


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## Ripley16

With Ripley, I got her to learn the command down by making her sit first, showing her a treat, then saying down while applying a slight amount of pressure with my hand to her shoulders while she was on tile floor (her front feel would slide down easily). I would reward her with a treat whenever she was fully down. She learned it really quickly (I think she was 12 weeks old by the time she had it down pat).


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## Maximo and Sam

im trying this today thanks alot glad i joined this forum


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## Bentleysmom

Hi welcome to GRF! Don't worry about teaching Sam everything all at once. He'll get it but it takes patience. Have fun with it. We're out of the puppy stage now...YES!!!


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## AmberSunrise

Here are a few YouTube links of puppy downs


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## Maximo and Sam

Thanks A lot sunrise!!


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## Maximo and Sam

Thanks A lot Sunrise!!


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## Roushbabe

First welcome to the forum as well! I know having a puppy can be sometimes frustrating because you want them to learn so much, but as people have already said- take your time with him when it comes to training. They are still very young at that age and their attention span is so short it can get you frustrated very easily. Just keep reminding yourself that he's just a baby and it will take time for him to learn everything you want. Have the training sessions very short so it's fun and not to over-bearing for the pup!

I wanted to find you a good video that helps show the best method on how to teach 'down' however I found dogs/puppies doing it really easy in the video. So i kept searching and found this video where a Corgi puppy has a somewhat difficult time laying down for a treat. Hopefully what she is saying you can put into practice and get good results. Remember, only try this maybe 3-5 times at first and then end the training session. Have fun with your puppy and end with a play session!  I hope this helps


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## Maximo and Sam

Thanks a lot everyone he is finally going down  Thanks alot for your help!!!!!


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