Lesson six is down, down is the position Shug is in right now. Basically, the dog is lying on the ground, either on their stomach or on their side. You want to start this lesson with your dog on a lease in collar. Place one hand over your dog's shoulders, use the other hand to scoop up under your dog's front leg while applying slight pressure on your dog's shoulder and saying down. Your dog will easily move into the down position.
Once in this position, praise your dog. After praising your dog, command your dog to stay while you stand up. Hold this position for five to ten seconds. Praise your dog again, go down, good, go down and then release your dog. If you have a larger dog or your dog is resisting while trying to get into this position instead of putting your hand across the dog shoulders, you can actually apply pressure on the side of the dog shoulder while putting your other hand on the side of the dog's opposite leg. This is an easier way to get a larger boisterous dog in the down position.
If you want your dog to stay in one position for a very long time. Down stay is a very useful position plus it's also very comfortable for your dog. I do want you to remember when you are teaching your dog, the down command that this is an extremely submissive position and I want you to take that into account and make sure there are not a lot of people or dog distractions around. Your dog will learn this much more quickly and will be less anxious while you are teaching.
On occasion, there will be -- and particularly boisterous or dominant dogs that does not want to stay in the down position and easy and effective way to get them to stay in this is to simply put your foot firmly on the dog's leash once it has gotten into the down position. So for the down command, you are going to want to start with your dog on a leash in collar. You can have them close to like this, good boy, good boy, come here, good boy, and put them in a sit position. Sit, good boy, that's a good boy and then from down, I will just put my hand here on the back of his neck and grab his front paws, pull them out, and down he goes. What a good down, what a good boy.
Okay. Let's try that again, down, good boy. Good boy, good down. You can integrate this into your jump start training by commanding your dog to go into a down say before eating or before going outside to go to the bathroom, before taking on or off his or her leash. Good down, good boy. When you put your dog in the down position, it's a good idea also to say stay and then get back into the standing position. That way your dog realizes that it needs to stay in that position even though you are away from him.
Also, something to remember that I mentioned before it's just a very vulnerable position for your dog. Now, by now there should be a lot of trust built up in your relationship. So he should go down quite easily, but if that does not occur, make sure that you are in a area where there is not a lot of distractions or other dogs that could come up towards your dog and make him feel threatened while in the down position. It will make training go much faster for both of you.
Let's drive it down with Shug, here you go, come here boy, good boy. That's a good boy. So I have got his collar in my left and. No, I have got his collar in my right hand, then I am going to scoop under his front leg while saying down, good boy, good boy. I put a slight amount of pressure on his shoulders as I sit down and just lifted his front legs and put him into that position. Pull it down stay, again remembering to stand up as soon as he is in position.
Okay, okay so let's try that again. Good boy, Shug down, good boy that's a good boy, good boy. Here is another place that I know Shug likes to be scratched on a side here. So I am using that as a tactile reward. He is a very good boy. Sit, good boy, and let down, good boy. That's a good by, good boy. Now, remember if you have a larger dog, you can place one hand on the far forearm of the dog and then push on the shoulder away from you and that will get a larger dog into a down position quite easily.
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