Teaching the "Down"

The "Down" exercise is the most absolute obedience exercise. Not only does it put the dog in the most submissive obedience position, it must be 100% reliable and work EVERY TIME.
Not to say that other obedience commands should only work on occasions, but in my opinion "down" is by far the most absolute command. It is the tool that must bring the dog under control, regardless of circumstances.

For the civilian dog owner it can be life saving. Take this scenario - The dog has a "cat problem" that has never been resolved. As you open the front door, your dog sees the neighbor's cat across the street. The chase is on. The dog rushes besides you through the door and advances at maximum speed towards the street. Next thing you know it is hit by an oncoming vehicle. Not only will you mourn the loss of your dog, the door to all kinds of lawsuits just flew wide open. What if the vehicle tried to avoid your dog and hit several parked cars while doing so. What if there is oncoming traffic and the vehicle crosses over in the other lane......  potentially catastrophic scenarios go on and on.

Many police dog handlers struggle with control during bite work exercises. The dog re-bites when it is not supposed to. The dog's recall is unreliable because of control issues. The dog cannot be left behind in a stationary position during a tactical training exercise, etc.

Your problem solver is a 100% reliable "down". Some might ask why not "come", "here", "no" etc. Because down is the most suitable exercise to apply the concept of absolute domination of the dog.

My training philosophy includes two types of down exercises. The "soft" down and the "hard" down. The soft down only applies to puppies up to the age of 1 year max. Beyond that age only the hard down is utilized.

Let's take a look at the soft down first. It is taught by making the "down" a pleasant exercise for the dog and handlers usually use a toy or treat to ease the dog into a down position. This method is usually used with competition dogs such as Schutzhund. The draw back of this method is that the dog's down position is often unreliable. The dog is more likely to get up, especially when it becomes exited due to an unexpected stimulus. This is more likely to occur, when the handler is not in immediate vicinity of the dog. Main reason is that the dog learned the down more in a playing environment than being forced into a submissive position by pressure and domination. Hencet this method applies only for puppies and very young dogs.

For a mature animal the "hard down" is the way to go. For two reasons.- it is a tool that clearly establishes who is the dominant individual. Mature and by nature dominant dogs are more often than not reluctant to lay down when told to do so because as mentioned earlier, it is the most submissive position a dog can assume.
Secondly, it perfectly applies the principle of pleasant and unpleasant experience.

The only reason for a dog to obey reliably is because it knows that disobedience will result in a negative or unpleasant experienc. This is the only way a dog can learn, because this is how dogs communicate among each other and this is how a pack (and dogs are pack animals) maintains a peaceful and harmonious social structure. The rank higher individual will after an unmistakable warning (usually only one) resort to physical enforcement, in the event the rank lower individual does not comply immediately. (unpleasant for the rank lower dog)

Let's use feeding as an example. The rank higher pack member will always eat first. The rank lower dog has either to wait until the higher ranking individual leaves the food source or, if plenty of food is available and the lower ranking dog can feed in acceptable distance, the higher ranking dog allows it to do so. Confrontations  after an audible warning are always physical. As soon as the higher ranking dog established dominance all conflict ceases. The lower ranking dog has learned it's lesson and will patiently wait for it's turn, next feeding time.

Countless dog owners experience the above scenario every time they feed their pet. How many times have you heard the expression "he get's grouchy when he eats". Or "don't go close when she has a bone, she is really protective about it". - What actually happens is that the dog is asserting dominance over the the owner, by disallowing him to come close to the food source. A behavior that can be the beginning of serious problems if not addressed, but I will discuss this situation in a future chapter.

Now that we examined a basic example of canine communication let's return to the hard down.

Two things have to take place. First I have to make the dog understand what I want it to do when I say "down". Second I have to make the dog understand that it has to do it immediately after my first command.
Make sure the dog already has a reliable "sit" in its repertoire before teaching the down.

The dog has a choke collar on, is on leash and told to sit. After it sits down the command "down" (or whatever command you prefer to use to lay the dog down) comes in a sharp, commanding and clearly audible tone of voice. Immediately after the verbal command the handler applies a sharp leash correction by bringing the dog from a sitting into a down position. This happens in one swift move immediately following the verbal command. Correction comes out of a loose leash, meaning there is slack in the lead before the dog is forced to go to the ground. One pulls the dog with one snap of the leash down and sideways to the ground.
It is essential that this move brings the dog down at the first time.
Some dogs will fight to get back up. Make sure the dog stays down for several seconds before allowing it to get back up. The actual take down MUST BE AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE for the dog followed by the pleasant experience of not being jerked or forced to move anymore. DO NOT PRAISE while the dog is down because if you do,  it will immediately try to get up .
The hard down is the only obedience exercise that is not rewarded with praise but rather with the dog's experience that force and pressure cease as soon as it obeys and goes down. (Remember, all conflict ends after the physical "confrontation" concludes. The dominant dog does not praise the submissive one after teaching him a lesson).

If applied properly your dog will "down" within 10 to 20 min. The follow up is training 15 min a day for a week to make sure repetition will make it stick. Do not down your dog after every sit to ensure you dog does not associate every sit with a following down. 3 "sits" and the fourth one followed by a "down". Remember ONE command only followed immediately by physical enforcement.
The result will be a dog that will respond to "down" under any circumstances, regardless of environmental stimulus.

So next time your dog rushes after the neighbor's cat and approaches the street, a sharp, loud "DOWN" will stop it dead in its tracks. You now have a tool to avoid potentially catastrophic behavior issues.

In the event you have problems with the execution of this method shoot me an email and I will send you what you need to make it work.