Teaching the "down" and "stay" commands

[beaslju]

My 3 month old boxer, Roxy, is doing pretty well with basic sit and come commands (at least in the house, the back yard is a different story). However, she so seldom goes into a down position that it's hard for me to catch her doing it in order to reward and reinforce the behavior. If I try to get her to go into a down position from a sitting position using some food to reward her she will bend herself in half trying to get the food but will not lay down. Does anyone have some advice for teaching this command?

Also, the stay command is another tough one. While I can get her to sit on command consistently, her attention is so short that the stay command just hasn't been successful to date. I know this one is very important and can keep her safe in dangerous situations. How have others had success in teaching this command? Is she too young to get it?

On another note, Roxy started her puppy classes at Pet Smart last Saturday. Although we have had some success at home with training she was quite a handful during the class and was the least attentive puppy. I guess all of the new sights and sounds were just too much for her to focus. I'm sure it will get better, but it was funny seeing her greeting the other dogs. She was quite vocal during the instruction period and I just had to laugh as she barked during the instruction. The joys of puppy training!

 

[TwoDogs]

Try luring her into the down under your bent leg to get her to go all the way down.
As for the stay, work on adding duration literally a few seconds at a time and in a low distraction environment. Then slowly add distractions. Start far from the distraction and gradually decrease the distance you are working her from the distraction Find a reward that is better than the distraction. I like to use going to investigate the distraction as the reward for maintaining a nice stay. Expect to have to shorten the time again every time you add something new, and gradually build the duration back.

 

[RolenKisses]

Are you working on "down" on a hard surface?
Rolen doesn't like to go in the down position on a hard surface. He will, but if he had a choice, he would choose carpet. Just a thought.

 

[RoxiesEcho]

At obedience class we used a clicker. When teaching Bella "down" we started in the sit position then put a treat down towards her front feet and slowly pulled it towards me and just held it there until she started to lay down. Then I clicked and gave her the treat. Everytime she even started to move - click and treat. Slowly you wait until she goes further and further before clicking until eventually you wait until she is completely down before she got the treat. To teach the "stay" you need to start out with very short periods of time before you click and treat. Then work your way up to longer and longer periods of time. She's still a baby but she will get all of this in no time at all!

PS. Bella was a spit fire in her first classes and really provided a lot of entertainment to the rest of the group!

 

[RunningOra]

I really struggled to teach Sasha 'down' - she just wouldn't get it! The one thing that taught it to her (and someone else has mentioned this) was: sit on the floor, with your legs out infront of you. Bend your knees, so there's like a little tunnel under your legs. Make your dog sit on one side of the tunnel, then hold a treat in the tunnel, from the other side (so your arm is reached under your legs) as they go to get the treat, draw your hand more under your legs until they're totally lying down. I would then swing my legs away, so she was lying down by herself and congratulate. Also, as someone else mentioned, do it on warm, carpeted surfaces! Sasha hates lying down somewhere cold!

For 'stay', I did this literally step by step. I would make Sasha sit, then take one step away from her, saying 'stay', step back to her, reward her and release her (I use 'okay' as the release word). Once she could do that consistantly, I repeated but taking two steps away...and so on.

I also use hand signals, which seemed to REALLY help Sasha. "Sit" is me holding up one finger as I say it, wait is holding up my hand like a "stop" sign. Lie down is my palm horizontal to the floor.

Good luck!

 

[Emmasfam]

heh i tried the under leg trick with our boxer mix, she looked at me with her head cocked sideways , and then jumped over my legs to the treat hand.....

 

[laylana]

yeaaaaaaaaaahhhh it worked, finally!!!!! Thanks to you guys our 'Celina' finally learned the 'down' command. I was reading this thread this morning and a few minutes ago I tried it with sitting on the floor, bending my knees etc. and she got it right away. I have been trying to teach her the down position since 8 wks now and she just didn't get it, sitting she does perfect from the get go, then I would put my hand with the treat on the floor and tell her down, but she would put her mouth on the floor and her butt would come up.
Thanks so much you guys for this perfect trick to get her to lay down!!!

 

[Sportsman]

hyper boxers

My 9 wk old boxer does well with Sit on command inside and out when she's not hyper - still working on that.

One thing that worked on sit and part of my strategy as I start down is I need to play hard for 30 minutes and tire her out some. She's then more attentive in general and she starts to offer the down position for reinforcement. Just a thought because I'm just starting down. My attention span is the issue right now because when she decides to plop down, it happens quick and I miss it with the click.