Teaching your dog how to lay down is an extremely important dog training skill to master. Not only is it incredibly useful in stopping unwanted behaviors like door-charging, but it is also an excellent method to develop settled, calm behavior in your dog. With a properly conditioned down leash, you’ll be able to more readily enjoy sitting outdoors with your dog, even after they are fully house trained. However, the key is teaching your dog how to lay down instead of fetching. You’ll need some help and here is how to teach your dog to lay down on command.
To begin, it is very important to establish what “lie down” is for your dog training. Most people think that this term simply means staying down. The truth is that laying down involves several different tasks including walking, moving around on a leash, and eventually down sitting. It’s critical to first use the leash to move the pup around, then on to the walk and finally down sitting. Then, teach the dog how to lie down on the command and practice several times before letting the pup off the leash.
Next, you want to start training your dog to lay down by walking in a circle. The idea is to slowly lower yourself down until your puppy is able to follow you with no trouble. Once they are able to follow you, begin to lift up your pet and gently allowing them to fall back. Repeat the process several times before allowing your pup to stand up. Eventually, most dogs will be able to sit without you lifting them up, just using their own body weight against their own weight to assist you.
When training how to teach your dog to lay down, the most important part of the training is positive reinforcement. Using positive reinforcement during training is critical because it encourages the right behavior. Positive reinforcement doesn’t mean punishing your dog if they aren’t following your commands. Positive reinforcement simply means rewarding your dog when they are doing the right thing. You can do this by giving them praise or petting them and giving them the proper treat to reinforce the behavior.
During training, it is important to use your voice with your dog as well. If you are having trouble getting your dog to listen to you, then sing your training commands while you hold a treat in your mouth and your dog eagerly waits by the training cue. Your dog will eventually recognize the sound of your voice and will begin to look forward to the cue as you are giving praise or a treat. Eventually, they will lie down and immediately know where you should be sitting.
As mentioned earlier, training how to teach your pup to go lay down can be a bit more difficult than other commands. If you find that you are struggling, try to remember that your dog is just a puppy and can be a bit confused at first. Don’t get frustrated, but keep trying. This will eventually happen and your dog will begin to learn what you want him or her to do.
The next step of the training process is teaching your dog to sit with the lure in front of them. To begin, bring the lure toward them until they are about two steps away from you with the lure between their nose and the lead. Then, using a positive reinforcement method such as praise or petting, guide your dog toward the sit command with the lure in front of them. As they reach the sit command, give them a treat and praise them for their good behavior.
You can also teach your dog to sit or down with a treat by just using praise or a no-rate command such as “sit” or “down”. As long as you have a firm grip on the lead, move your dog forward and as soon as he reaches the end of the leash, give him a treat and praise him. Continue this process until he has learned the sitting or down commands. Once he has learned how to teach your dog a command, be sure to always walk with him until he knows what you want him to do. That way, he won’t get confused when on his own and it will be easier to teach him how to walk properly.
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