Down

Training your dog to lie down is an excellent skill to help your dog relax and also to teach them how to focus on you. It is a great foundation skill for a lot of other behaviours. 
It is also helpful to teach your dog to sit before teaching them to lie down. 

Luring	Shaping	Capturing	Modeling (Last resort)
Charge up your marker Ask your dog to sit Put a treat to their nose and slowly move it to the floor. Once your dog bends down to get the treat wait till their belly or chest touches the ground. Mark and reward on the ground level. When the dog learns to understand the behaviour use the DOWN command. Repeat a few times using a flat palm pushed towards the ground with the food held in your thumb and say the DOWN command. Now without food in your hand move your palm in the same way as if you had the food and say the DOWN command. When the dog performs the behaviour mark and reward using the other hand close to the empty hand on the ground. Now ask for the behavoiur only using the hand gesture and the word DOWN. Mark and reward when the dog performs the action.	Charge up your marker Ask the dog to sit Put a treat to their nose and slowly move it towards the floor. When the dog's head dips, mark and reward a few times. Now move the treat lower and only mark and reward the dogs when their knees bend repeat a few times. Now move the treat on the ground and only mark and reward the dog when their chest or abdomen touches the ground when this happens provide a jackpot reward and say the word DOWN. Once your dog is completing the down in one swoop reliably a few times add a visual signal to the behaviour. Now while standing up ask the dog for to go down using only the verbal and visual cues. Mark and reward a successful completion by putting a treat on the ground in between the dogs front paws.	Start in a small roon free from any distractions. Sit on a chair and don't interact with or excite your dog. When the dog gets bored and lies down mark and reward the behaviour. When your dog repeats this behaviour a few times start to add the visual cue and the word DOWN just as the dog is half way to the ground. then mark and reward. Repeat the exercise in different areas of the house.	Ask the dog to sit. Place one hand gently on the dog's shoulder behind the neck. DO NOT push the dog down simply leave your hand there adding a little gentle pressure without moving until the dog lays down to move away from the hand. When this happens mark and reward with your other hand. Repeat the process this time using a hand signal with the other hand and the word DOWN as the dog is halfway to the ground. Mark and reward. Remove the hand as soon as the dog is reliably performing the action with just the hand signal and verbal command.

Please see the videos below to learn more about trainign the behaviour from trainers around the world. 

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Down

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