Tommy does a 'down'

Yes! I know! I can’t believe it either! After all this time the penny has dropped! I had been teaching him the ‘down’ in the normal way. Get the dog to sit and then place your hand on the floor with the treat and the dog follows the treat. He does that bit fine, but getting him to go down without my hand with a treat in it on the floor, just never happened. Until two nights ago…

I was at Southend training and Val said tie your dogs to the piano / table / chair so they are steady. Then, move towards the end of the lead and ask them to sit. Then down. The dogs were all doing well as we were no further from them than normal. Then we had to move away another step so the dogs were tied just a small way away. Getting them to sit and immediately reward. Try the same with down. Still move your hand towards the floor but too far away from the dog so they can get it. As soon as they are down, immediately reward. So that’s what I done. And that’s what Tommy done! I couldn’t believe it! We practised this a few times, stepping a bit further away, and then went on to some other practice.

When we practised ‘at home’ training the following night, I tied him to the cabinet in the hall and we done the exercise again. And he done downs again!

The following night, I didn’t tie him to anything and it worked! I couldn’t believe it! After four months of training I can finally get Tommy to ‘do a down’ without me having to touch the floor, bend over or anything! I can stand my height and just tell him ‘down’. I’m so impressed with him.