any other ideas for a down?

Vinny is just about finished his obedience course. He is extremely good with his sits; stays; heel work etc. But during this course we're supposed to be able to do all of that verbally - no hand signals. I know the tricks with starting with a treat on the nose; then next to the ankle; gradually taking the treat up to knee height, etc, as they get the concept of a verbal down. I've done it all with Roxy and I'm pretty friendly with the instructor so I get to learn the tips; but with Vinny...

He is so food motivated that he focuses on the treat and will not do a verbal down. (Although, he is just short of 6 months old so maybe I should relax a bit!). I can get the treat as high as my knee; but definitely no "down" for no treat seems to be his motto!

Just wondering if there are any other tips I can try? He tends to learn everything from Roxy except that

We have grading/graduation in three weeks, so there is loads of time. He is so young still though!

There are a couple of things you can try.

1.Try saying "down", wait a few seconds, and then lure him with the treat. If you practice this enough, he will learn that "down" happens before the treat moves, and he will start to offer it in anticipation. Shower him with treats the first time he gets it right.

2. Put him on the leash, and wait for him to do it, show him the food treat. He might run through his whole gamut of behaviours such as sitting, backing up, jumping, barking etc, ignore all these and only reinforce the down. A clicker here might help, or a verbal marker.

Thank you! I do use the clicker - forgot to mention that. Especially when he does go into a down, I click and treat repeatedly to try and reinforce it.

I like the idea of waiting a few seconds, thanks very much!

Logan struggled with "down" tbh, he can sort of do it now though. But only when he's been bad and knows if he does what he's told he'll get away with it

The way I did it was say down and as I was saying it I kneeled down with him and he just followed my action.

MatLogan wrote:Logan struggled with "down" tbh, he can sort of do it now though. But only when he's been bad and knows if he does what he's told he'll get away with it

The way I did it was say down and as I was saying it I kneeled down with him and he just followed my action.

sounds good! I can kneel with Vinny or point on the floor; but non-verbal cues are just not coming along. I think I need to be more patient

We taught Pixee down by doing this, we used a treat in front of her, what we do is say down and our hand goes lower as she follows it, then we move it forward abit and lower so she has to lie down and follow it, then we give it to her and say good girl, and repeat it. She has got it now. But she was around one and half when we taught her this, Vinny is still only a puppy, he will get there. Good luck with it

dogs trust got training videos online, they really good, bruno knows them all now. they have good down one on there, good luck it takes time, he only starting to do it without treats now

I did the moving the treat along with the girls. When Lily was at pup class the trainer got us to sit with our back to the wall with your knees bent up. Put the pup at one side of your legs and the treat at the other. The dog has to get in a down to get under your legs to get the treat. You could try it

Thank you all the suggestions!

We taught Otis 'down' by getting him into a sit on our left hand side - with me kneeling next him and then held the treat to his nose and lured him to the ground and let him work out how to get it... Once he did it loads of praise and of course the treat. Some dogs do find it more difficult.
At our classes you get them to crawl under your legs which I think someone has mentioned again by luring with a treat... Hope it comes together.