Teaching simple obedience commands to your pet is something that
all owners should do, as not only will this result in your pet living
like a civilized member of your family but it also gives you the
opportunity to learn a little about how they think, along with the added
bonus of spending some quality time with him/her. Believe it or not
your beloved puppy wants to please you and if you show it how to do just
that, then you can avoid the frustrations that go along with an
ill-mannered pet.
One of the easier obedience commands to teach your pet is the down command. This can come in very handy for pet owners when they want to confine their beloved Fido to a certain spot without having to secure him there, and it can be taught very quickly, as long as you have some sort of idea how to do it. Too often people take the approach of simply muscling their dog into the desired position and expect the dog to grasp the concept over time, which simply will never happen as the dog has no freaken clue what is going on.
When do I break out the down command for Lars? Not as often as I used too, simply because Lars has developed his own little routine that he puts into great practice when I am performing certain chores around my apartment, but in the beginning when we were just figuring each other out, I would break it out quite often. When I am in the kitchen making dinner, there is no reason for Bar to be hanging out with me, so he now knows that when I am making food he is not allowed to be 'hovering,' which also eliminates the likelihood of him scarfing food that I may accidentally drop. Besides this scenario, there is not many other times I command Lars to lie down, but it is nice to know that I have that option to go to if I ever need a way to control him.
Some people will bring out the trusted clicker when training the down command, but I myself am not the biggest fan of it. Why you ask? Well what if you are out and about with Fido and you forgot your clicker at home? Clicker training has its advantages in certain situations, but I will say that for something as simple as training the down command, I would not use it.
So how exactly do I teach my dog to go down on command? First I make sure that my dog is paying attention to me, and the best way of doing that is to bait him with treats as nine times out of 10 dogs think with their bellies. Maneuver your dog into a sitting position, making sure that they are within reach of you at all times. Then simply hold a treat just out of his reach, making sure to keep it close to the floor. You also want to make sure that your pet simply does not just jump to his feet and grab the treat and you can do this by making sure that you apply a little resistance to his lower back so he can not stand up. You want your pet to simply lean forward to reach the treat, which they will do, thus they are already initiating the first part of the down command on their own. If fixating your pet's rear end is too difficult for you to do, simply enlist the assistance of a friend or family member to hold the dog in place while you offer the treat and utter the down command.
As your pet becomes comfortable reaching out to take the treat, simply move it further from him so he has to reach further and further. This will inevitably result in him having to walk out his front paws and by keeping his back end secure, eventually he will have no choice but to lie down to reach it. Every time you offer the treat, also give the down command so the dog will learn to associate not only your hand gesture with the act of lying down, but the verbal command as well. Remember to make your dog feel like a million bucks every time he performs the command successfully and this along with lots of eatable rewards will just help to speed up the learning process.
One of the easier obedience commands to teach your pet is the down command. This can come in very handy for pet owners when they want to confine their beloved Fido to a certain spot without having to secure him there, and it can be taught very quickly, as long as you have some sort of idea how to do it. Too often people take the approach of simply muscling their dog into the desired position and expect the dog to grasp the concept over time, which simply will never happen as the dog has no freaken clue what is going on.
When do I break out the down command for Lars? Not as often as I used too, simply because Lars has developed his own little routine that he puts into great practice when I am performing certain chores around my apartment, but in the beginning when we were just figuring each other out, I would break it out quite often. When I am in the kitchen making dinner, there is no reason for Bar to be hanging out with me, so he now knows that when I am making food he is not allowed to be 'hovering,' which also eliminates the likelihood of him scarfing food that I may accidentally drop. Besides this scenario, there is not many other times I command Lars to lie down, but it is nice to know that I have that option to go to if I ever need a way to control him.
Some people will bring out the trusted clicker when training the down command, but I myself am not the biggest fan of it. Why you ask? Well what if you are out and about with Fido and you forgot your clicker at home? Clicker training has its advantages in certain situations, but I will say that for something as simple as training the down command, I would not use it.
So how exactly do I teach my dog to go down on command? First I make sure that my dog is paying attention to me, and the best way of doing that is to bait him with treats as nine times out of 10 dogs think with their bellies. Maneuver your dog into a sitting position, making sure that they are within reach of you at all times. Then simply hold a treat just out of his reach, making sure to keep it close to the floor. You also want to make sure that your pet simply does not just jump to his feet and grab the treat and you can do this by making sure that you apply a little resistance to his lower back so he can not stand up. You want your pet to simply lean forward to reach the treat, which they will do, thus they are already initiating the first part of the down command on their own. If fixating your pet's rear end is too difficult for you to do, simply enlist the assistance of a friend or family member to hold the dog in place while you offer the treat and utter the down command.
As your pet becomes comfortable reaching out to take the treat, simply move it further from him so he has to reach further and further. This will inevitably result in him having to walk out his front paws and by keeping his back end secure, eventually he will have no choice but to lie down to reach it. Every time you offer the treat, also give the down command so the dog will learn to associate not only your hand gesture with the act of lying down, but the verbal command as well. Remember to make your dog feel like a million bucks every time he performs the command successfully and this along with lots of eatable rewards will just help to speed up the learning process.
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