Down: Adding Duration
PREREQUISITE: You should have practiced capturing down with your clicker several times a day for the last week. Your dog should now be offering you a down when you start your training session.
If your dog is not doing this, please do not proceed to the next step. Go back to the first lesson on down and practice some more.
- TOOLS:
- Clicker
- Treats
- Treat pouch
TRAINING ENVIRONMENT: Start in the least distracting (most boring) place in your home.
STEPS:
- While you are practicing Down, begin to mix up the amount of time between the time your dog lies down and the time you click and treat. Click and treat should still be only seconds apart. Mix up just the time before the click.
- Don’t be linear, your dog will get bored. Don’t be predictable! Be random! What this means: Don’t wait one second the first time, two the second time, three the third time, four the fourth time, getting longer and longer as you go. Instead (for example) wait two seconds the first time, one the second time, three the third time, one the fourth time, four the fifth time, etc. Mix up the amount of time you ask your dog to stay down before you click and treat so he never knows when you are going to click and treat. This guessing game will keep him interested and extend the time even faster.
HOMEWORK:
- PUPPIES: Practice this for about five minutes twice a day.
- DOGS: Practice this for ten repetitions, three times each day.
AT THE END OF THIS STEP:
Your dog should stay down for five or more seconds for puppies, and ten or more seconds for dogs.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
My dog won’t lie down. He just stands there.
- Find a less distracting environment.
- Take a walk or play a game of fetch to tire him out.
- Consider what you’re using to reinforce the behavior. Does your dog really like it?
I ask my dog to down and he won’t do it.
- You named it before it was predictable. If you wait until you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the next thing your dog will do is lie down, name it. If you aren’t there yet keep practicing without the word. Try again in a day or two.
- Find a less distracting environment.