Teaching your dog to lie down is a practical cue because it leads to more advanced behaviors. When your dog can lie down at the right time, he will be able to stay on his bed or master tricks like rolling over or crawling. Sky is the limit! Your puppy will enjoy the training and your friends will be impressed.
How to teach your dog to lie down
Before you begin your workout, follow these tips to set up your environment for a successful session:
- First, to set your dog up for success, exercise him before you start the training session. He must be tired enough to be able to want to lie down.
- Gather his favorite dog treats. The reward should be something that your dog loves and that he will follow with his nose when you try to lure him.
- Start training in a room free of distractions, not even his favorite dog buddy who might lunge at him while playing.
How to Down Train Your Dog: The Lure Method
- Ask your dog to sit in front of you. If he doesn’t know this behavior, teach it to him first in a separate training session.
- Hold a small piece of delicious treat in front of his nose. Slowly move the treat directly to the ground. When he follows the treat, mark the desired behavior with “yes” and give him the reward.
Dog advice: Stay calm when marking the behavior. If you get too excited, chances are your dog will get up.
- Repeat this several times. With each successive step, continue to move the treat closer to the ground. If successful, praise and reward.
Dog advice: If your dog gets up, make sure you don’t move the treat too quickly, which will cause this behavior. Restart.
- If your dog curls instead of lying flat, move the treat slightly away from him once it reaches the ground. It should look like an “L” motion.
- When your dog lies flat with his elbows and hocks on the ground, praise and reward him.
Tip for dogs: Place the treat reward on the ground right between your dog’s paws. This keeps her lying down.
- Repeat these steps several times, always praising and rewarding your puppy when he lies down on the ground.
- When luring your dog from the sitting position, add the “down” signal. Praise and treat her when she lies down with her elbows on the floor. Do this several times.
- Fade the lure once your dog understands what is expected. Still use the hand motion, but hide the treat in your other hand behind your back. Mark the behavior and treat it when it goes to bed.
- Once your puppy has successfully laid down without the treat lure, ease the hand movement. Then use only the verbal signal. Mix it up once your dog understands what is expected. Sometimes use the verbal signal and hand gesture. Other times, just use the verbal cue or hand signal.
- Use a random reinforcement schedule. Once your puppy understands what you expect, treat him less frequently. Do it slowly. You always want your puppy to be motivated. And don’t forget the praise.
Teaching this trick will often take more than one practice session. Don’t rush the process. It is very important that your dog understands what is expected before moving on.
What if my dog doesn’t want to lie down?
Don’t panic! Try luring your dog to go under something as if there was a bridge and he was limboing under it.
- Sit on the floor and bend your knee as if it were a bridge. You can also lure your dog under a table or chair rung, as long as the furniture is stable and does not move, which could startle a dog.
- Then, follow the steps above, luring your dog with a delicious treat under the “bridge.” Always praise and reward her when she lies down.
- Finally, fade the bridge and treat lure.
If your dog doesn’t want to attract you, don’t despair. When returning from a walk or after a play session, have treats on hand and wait for your dog to lie down.
Calmly start rewarding the behavior. Rewarded behavior will be repeated. Then you can start adding a “down” signal when he sets. Mark and reward the behavior.
Next Steps for Teaching Your Dog to Depress
Once your dog has laid down to your liking, start adding distractions. Ask someone to enter the room remotely. Perform the trick in different locations, on different surfaces, and at different times of the day. Increase the distraction as your dog can handle it. The goal is for your puppy to generalize the behavior to other contexts.
Teaching your dog to lie down on cue is a very useful behavior if you want to take your puppy into public places, especially with other dogs. Think of all the fun you’ll have together taking the show on the road!