Teaching "lay down"

[LilSnooPydOG]

Lucy learned "sit" fairly quickly. A few minutes for a couple days and she became pretty reliable with the command, and for the most part we just went with verbal praise when teaching it.

I taught her "watch me" in about 15 minutes, and she obeys this one pretty well. She'll be sitting by the rat cage and kind of pawing at it, but if I give the command she looks...

So anyway. I'm having trouble with "lay down." I tell her to sit, and then I carefully pull her front legs forward, placing her in the down position...I then give the command and treat her. (I don't like pulling her legs forward, but it's the only way I've been able to get her down) We've been working on this a few times every day, each time for about 5 minutes, for the past week or so. And she's made no progress. I tell her to sit and she does...but when I tell her to lay down, she just cocks her head and looks at me like I'm nuts lol.

Does this command in general just take longer to learn or what? :confused:

[bruises]

How else have you tried getting her down? Have you tried holding a treat in front of her and pulled it downwards? And then I've heard that it's better to move it down-towards the dog's stomach, than down-forwards, since down-forwards often leads to the dog moving forwards.

Some dogs have a harder time to lay down than others. You could attempt to give the commando while she's already lying down. Or watch her closely, and when she lies down on her own, you give the commando and praise.

[LilSnooPydOG]

I've tried moving the treat down, but since she's a small dog she's pretty close to the floor, so all she really does is bend her head down and sniff at it lol.

I've tried another way...don't really know how to describe it. I basically get down on one knee, and have my other leg stretched out far enough that there's a small space between my leg and the ground, just small enough for her to be able to fit her body under it. What I do then is place the treat on the opposite side from her, and when she tries crawling under my leg to get the treat she either lays down by herself, or she's in such a position that just some very light pressure on her shoulders gets her to lay down.

The last way is how I'm now trying to do it...sometimes it doesn't work and she'll start scratching at my leg, or she climbs over my leg completely lol...but for the most part I can get her in the right position without having to force her into it myself, which I like a lot better.

Think that'll be better?

[FemaleCheetah]

I taught my pit bull Zoe and me GSD mix Katie to lay down in 5 mins when they were pups and how I did this was I would give them the command "lay down" and push down their upper back around the shoulder blade area so that they would go into a lay down position and give them a treat or a verbal praise and after about 5 mins they got it without a problem, I tried pulling their legs out to make them lay down but that didnt work for my dogs. I dont know how many other people use this method but I have found it to be VERY useful.

[eviloxygen]

Pushing on the dog at all is not a good idea. Have you done clicker training at all? Most of my pups learned lay down in a matter of mins with no contact, just having them offer it, and eventually placing a command with it.

Google clicker training, and start off with what you know, wait till she offers the down and click, then eventually pair with a command. It isn't an abnormally hard command to teach just takes a method the dog understands, and pushing on him usually doesn't work.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

[FemaleCheetah]

Well all the dogs I have had which has been 6 in total so far have learned to lay down in this method. I am not harsh when I push down on their shoulder blade area, I am very gentle about it. I just apply some pressure to the area which causes them to lay down, I dont push down real hard and force them to lay down I basically apply pressure and they would lay down on their own. This is how I learned at obediance school with my toy poodle that I use to have. It has worked for every dog that I have had without any problems.

[eviloxygen]

I'm not disputing that it has worked, but it can still cause harm to the dog, especially smaller dogs.

In research cases based from training classes it is proven that if the dog acts on the behaviour of his own will he is more likely to continue to do so, and "offer" the behaviour. THis is the main root of clicker training and why it is widely used on all animals with great success. I would suggest looking into it in depth and you may find yourself a positive new training method to use here on out.

[Canni]

Some dogs are slower learners.. I used the same method with gently folding the legs to go down and my dog Jasper learnt fine. Like you he's a small dog so moving the treat did nothing lol. It may also help using a hand signal whilst doing it as Jasper seemed to respond better to that than just verbal commands.

[FemaleCheetah]

I used this exact training method with my toy poodle and it did just fine. I didnt force the dog to the ground or push hard I only applied slight pressure so that he would lay down and it worked and he wasnt harmed.

[LilSnooPydOG]

I've been meaning to try clicker training...just keep forgetting to get a clicker. :p We were just at the pet store yesterday, too bad I didn't think to look for one.

Thanks for the suggestions. :)