how do you teach down fm a distance? - Page 1

All my dogs have really good obedience but I don't know how to teach them to down when they are not right with me. The come close to me and then do it.  One even crawls forward. He looks like he's low crawling through a battle zone. 

Suggestions?

First and foremost you must have a nice and fast down. When teaching my down at a distance. (sar emergency stop, some use sit) I pretend to throw the ball, let the dog run out looking, when he turns to me I drop him and he get the ball thrown. We start at small distances,

1)at my side

2)in front of me etc.

then the pretend throw. I always use 2 balls \. The one the dog receives for the drop and the other for me. He brings the first one back, another pretend throw,drop and reward.

This keeps it  a game.

hope this helps

I'd try tethering him to something, until he stopped trying to crawl forward. IF he goes down with no problem when you're close to him, try gradually increasing the distance, and see if that works.

I have a friend who did competitive obedience with a dog that was very, very bonded to her. She never could get it to do the down from a distance. The dog ALWAYS wanted to crawl closer to her. She was very young when she was competing with this dog, and wound up in tears. The judge told her she should be happy the dog so very much wanted to be with her.

Yeah, I know, small comfort when this happens with a couple  hundred people watching! 

hmm, great post...my dog is a creeper to, been wondering about this myself

how are you downing your dog now? if you are using the arm straight up then down movement, make sure you are not bringing your arm behind you. stop it in front. also, start like 2 feet in front of him, so there's no room to crawl. add a foot or two distance as he accomplishes this. also, stand straight and don't bend down, it "draws" your dog toward you.

Down the dog and then throw the ball BEHIND the dog for the reward. Rewards for sit, stand and down when delivered this way always will stop forward movement in its tracks. Additionally, I would reteach the down while watching TV or reading and just quietly release the dog when he/she is out of drive. I only want my dog in drive when she is beside me. Works for me.

Hey guys,

I taught the initial down to him at around 9 weeks with a piece of dogfood I held in front and angled back with it toward the lower chest. I like the sphynx type down.  I do give him a hand movement with it now though.

These are all good suggestions and I'll try them.

Thanks,

Dawgs

try to pass a long belt from the collar of dog and pass it
from one iron grip down to him. and continue until geting to your hands and calculated the distance that you prefer ........then give the command  Down and pull gently until he gets down .........is a way to you achieve something

The big question is how well does your dog know "down"???? Try downing your dog facing away from it for starters. If the dog has problems, then the dog does not know down.

Dogs learn situation and pattern first, so you have to see if your dog REALLY knows the command, which you have just told us that the dog does not.

Once you start asking for downs all weird like on a table, and on a car, or whatever, then you will be able to down your dog from a distance.

Most weirdness with the distance comes from the dog trying to complete the picture, ie creeping. The rest is the greedy little bastard is trying to get his/her reward.