# My puppy won't lie down with the word "down"



## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

It's been a while since he knows the command "lie down" but he hasn't associated the word with the action. Can someone help me
he only does the command when I use my hand to tell him to. But if I hide my hand behind me and tell him to go down he stares at me like ???? which means he does not know what "down" means. It's just with "down" that im having the problem. Im sure Im doing something wrong  

He knows how to sit, play dead, stay,fetch with just the word but when it comes to DOWN he just stares at me..:help:


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

You're making great progress with the hand signal. With the verbal command, try shortening it to one word and be sure to use the hand signal at the same time. Say the word slowly as you give the hand signal. For a single word command, you can just say "down" unless you use that word as a correction when your puppy jumps on you. That could also be why your puppy is confused. I had the same problem with my Husky so I switched to "rest" and after a while I was able to stop the hand signal. Good Luck!


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Mary Beth said:


> You're making great progress with the hand signal. With the verbal command, try shortening it to one word and be sure to use the hand signal at the same time. Say the word slowly as you give the hand signal. For a single word command, you can just say "down" unless you use that word as a correction when your puppy jumps on you. That could also be why your puppy is confused. I had the same problem with my Husky so I switched to "rest" and after a while I was able to stop the hand signal. Good Luck!


Yes, that's what I use "DOWN". He's not confused, it's the only word i use in english besides of "UP" the others one are in spanish 

Thanks btw


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

We taught all our dogs down with the hand signal first and just the word down. We use the word off to get off of something, and out to go outside. How old is the pup? Maybe you need to keep using the hand signal and word together a little longer.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

My male pup doesn't like to lie down on command either- the female, no problem. Stosh definitely responds to the hand signal better, even though I say 'down' at the same time. I don't know how old your male pup is, but it's a challenge for intact males [not neutered] to lie down on command, it puts them in a vulnerable, submissive position. So give lots of praise and treats when he does it, whether it's a hand or verbal command. Good job!


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Zoeys mom said:


> We taught all our dogs down with the hand signal first and just the word down. We use the word off to get off of something, and out to go outside. How old is the pup? Maybe you need to keep using the hand signal and word together a little longer.


He's 5 MO about to be 6 in 10 days


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

And he only does it when I have food in my hand ..-. but when it comes to sit,etc he does it without food Maybe it's thanks to what Stosh said.. never thot that


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

I've been trying to teach him with a clicker, it'd make it easier..but gosh I just can't seem to find one in my country :/ they don't even know what it works for


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Try Amazon.com for a clicker! If you can't find one, let me know and I'll send you one


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Helios said:


> It's been a while since he knows the command "lie down" but he hasn't associated the word with the action. Can someone help me
> he only does the command when I use my hand to tell him to. But if I hide my hand behind me and tell him to go down he stares at me like ???? which means he does not know what "down" means. It's just with "down" that im having the problem. Im sure Im doing something wrong
> 
> He knows how to sit, play dead, stay,fetch with just the word but when it comes to DOWN he just stares at me..:help:


In order to associate the verbal cue with the hand signal, say the word (that he doesn't know) then follow with the hand signal (that he does know). The verbal cue will become a predictor of the hand signal so that when he hears the word he learns that the hand signal will be coming shortly. Gradually wait longer and longer after saying "down" before using the hand signal, as a reminder of what the word means. The first time he gets it without having to show him the hand signal make a HUGE fuss - happy praise and a jackpot of treats, one after another. Repeat. There were many times when I was teaching Halo verbal commands where I'd just stand there and wait for her to work it out - 10, 20, 30 seconds, before using the hand signal. 

You should find that in time you no longer need to use the hand signal, but I like to practice with both from time to time to make sure that he continues to respond to both. In Halo's Puppy 2 class we had to demonstrate that they understood sit, stand, and down, using all verbal cues, and also all hand signals. We did drills - sit/down/sit/stand/down/stand. If you work on it a little each day you'll get there! 

If there are things that he's doing consistently with a verbal cue but you'd like to teach him a hand signal, reverse it - you always do what they don't know before you do what they do know.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Helios said:


> And he only does it when I have food in my hand ..


It sounds like he's become dependent on the food lure as an additional cue. I using luring to teach behaviors, but I get the food out of that hand as quickly as possible, often within the first short training session or two, using an empty hand to make the same motion but treating out of the other hand.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Stosh said:


> Stosh definitely responds to the hand signal better, even though I say 'down' at the same time.


If you use a hand signal at the same time as you say the word they're always responding to the hand signal.  Try this experiment - say a different word (another cue, like sit, or something else entirely like hamburger) while giving him the hand signal for down. I'll bet he does a down! 

Dogs are much more receptive to the movements we make than they are to the sounds that we make, most of which is of no relevance to them. They are astute observers of body language.


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Stosh said:


> Try Amazon.com for a clicker! If you can't find one, let me know and I'll send you one


I just googled it and found out that there are some clickers available for shipping outside the U.S. Thanks for the idea!


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> In order to associate the verbal cue with the hand signal, say the word (that he doesn't know) then follow with the hand signal (that he does know). The verbal cue will become a predictor of the hand signal so that when he hears the word he learns that the hand signal will be coming shortly. Gradually wait longer and longer after saying "down" before using the hand signal, as a reminder of what the word means. The first time he gets it without having to show him the hand signal make a HUGE fuss - happy praise and a jackpot of treats, one after another. Repeat. There were many times when I was teaching Halo verbal commands where I'd just stand there and wait for her to work it out - 10, 20, 30 seconds, before using the hand signal.
> 
> You should find that in time you no longer need to use the hand signal, but I like to practice with both from time to time to make sure that he continues to respond to both. In Halo's Puppy 2 class we had to demonstrate that they understood sit, stand, and down, using all verbal cues, and also all hand signals. We did drills - sit/down/sit/stand/down/stand. If you work on it a little each day you'll get there!
> 
> If there are things that he's doing consistently with a verbal cue but you'd like to teach him a hand signal, reverse it - you always do what they don't know before you do what they do know.


Thanks, that really helps  I'm so doing that tomorrow


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Funny, in our obedience class we used other words like 'carrot' for 'sit' or 'apple' for 'come' and you're right, they still responded.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Helios, you can use a verbal marker (usually "yes!" or the equivalent in your native tongue if you prefer) in place of a clicker. Another way to teach "down" is to capture the behavior by marking and rewarding when he lays down on his own. The more you reward behavior the more he's going to offer it up, and when you see he's just about to lay down, say the command, then mark and reward when he does it. If want to get more repetitions in you can toss the treat so he has to get up to get it, and then you can wait for him to lay down again - mark/reward.


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> It sounds like he's become dependent on the food lure as an additional cue. I using luring to teach behaviors, but I get the food out of that hand as quickly as possible, often within the first short training session or two, using an empty hand to make the same motion but treating out of the other hand.


He only does that when it comes to DOWN and UP, but he does sit, play dead,stay with out food


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Helios, you can use a verbal marker (usually "yes!" or the equivalent in your native tongue if you prefer) in place of a clicker. Another way to teach "down" is to capture the behavior by marking and rewarding when he lays down on his own. The more you reward behavior the more he's going to offer it up, and when you see he's just about to lay down, say the command, then mark and reward when he does it. If want to get more repetitions in you can toss the treat so he has to get up to get it, and then you can wait for him to lay down again - mark/reward.


I'll start doing that.
And when Im practicing DOWN after the reward I usually say "UP"/Reward and then again "DOWN"


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

tell him to "sit" then tell him "down".


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## Uniballer (Mar 12, 2002)

doggiedad said:


> tell him to "sit" then tell him "down".


Why? When you really need down, the dog is probably not sitting.


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

Minna's least favorite command is "lay down"; Sobacca's favorite is "lay down". I did nothing differently on their training of the command, it's just the dog. However to reinforce Minna's "lay down" command....if she does it especially quick I will praise it sooo much and I will also give an extra treat.
We're on the "you don't get treats every time" portion of her training; but if she does "lay down" quickly and perfectly she definitely gets rewarded to reinforce the behavior.


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Im so happy, i was just practicing DOWN with helios and seems like he does it, not inmmediatly but he does it without the hand signal! 

It is a progress right? I wait untill he focus on me and I say DOWN and he stares at me like 5-10secs and then he does the command :wub::wub:. I did what Cassidy's Mom said and it worked perfectly or that's what I think.

Being able to make it without hand signal in a range of 5secs is progress, right?


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

And I also did what VChurch did with Minna. Instead of giving him one cookie i gave him 3 and I made a HUGE fuss as Cassidy'sMom said!

It's Funny I called my mom So she could try it, and she was saying "down" not in an Energetic way thus she had to use the hand signal.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

That's perfect, definitely progress! Sometimes we're too impatient to wait for them to figure stuff out, but if you give them just a little time to think about it they get it right. Don't be discouraged if sometimes you have to wait longer than 5 seconds or if you have to occasionally remind him with the hand signal, especially in a new, more distracting environment, or even with him in a different position relative to you - at your side in heel position vs right in front of you. 

Just keep working with him until he'll always do it immediately, no matter where you are or what you're doing. I like to train in different rooms in the house every day, including the garage and bathrooms, the kitchen. Train while you're standing, sitting in a chair or on the floor. All of those little variations will help to generalize the command for him.


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> That's perfect, definitely progress! Sometimes we're too impatient to wait for them to figure stuff out, but if you give them just a little time to think about it they get it right. Don't be discouraged if sometimes you have to wait longer than 5 seconds or if you have to occasionally remind him with the hand signal, especially in a new, more distracting environment, or even with him in a different position relative to you - at your side in heel position vs right in front of you.
> 
> Just keep working with him until he'll always do it immediately, no matter where you are or what you're doing. I like to train in different rooms in the house every day, including the garage and bathrooms, the kitchen. Train while you're standing, sitting in a chair or on the floor. All of those little variations will help to generalize the command for him.


It's true , they're smart enough to figure out stuff by their own, and yep, i don't have any problems waiting 5 secs,10 secs,1minut, as long as he fully understands ill be happy and proud of him . And thanks for the idea! Imma start doing that in my house


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## kidkhmer (Jul 14, 2010)

I have the same challenge with 3 month old Karma. When we clicker train with hot dog pieces I can now basically move to hand signals only after starting with both verbal and hands. 

A two fingered sweeping hand down past her face and she drops straight away.

A hand raised from belt level straight up and she sits up erect.

A sharp push back motion with a sharp stop and she does and excellent stay.

However, when we are then out in public I also get the "huh?" look when i say LIE DOWN or DOWN. In fairness to her I need to ramp up the frequency of the clicker training.


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

Helios is doing the down command way quickler than before, he stares at me for like 2 secs and then he goes down  
@kidkhmer I followed every advise that i got from here, mostly from Cassidy'sMom and he got it pretty clickly!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> If you use a hand signal at the same time as you say the word they're always responding to the hand signal.  Try this experiment - say a different word (another cue, like sit, or something else entirely like hamburger) while giving him the hand signal for down. I'll bet he does a down!
> 
> Dogs are much more receptive to the movements we make than they are to the sounds that we make, most of which is of no relevance to them. They are astute observers of body language.


Hondo plays dead. He responds to the hand signal rolling the hand at the wrist. It took hubby a while to realize this. I'd say to Hondo, "Do you want Daddy to cook dinner?" and Hondo would just look at me like I was speaking martian. Then I'd say, "Do you want Mommy to cook dinner?" and I'd roll my wrist (like I was saying 'or') and he'd drop to the floor to his side (dead dog), and lay there. Hubby thought Hondo was a genius, it's not safe for me to try to cook....


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## Helios (Aug 29, 2010)

@Lilie That made me laugh:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Hilarious!


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