I have been able to teach my dog to sit and shake hands, but he won't lay down. Any good methods?

Question

The only way i can get him to lay down once in a while is if i take the treat, put it in front of his nose and lead him down to the floor.

Answer 1

* Have him sit down.
* Let your dog sniff a treat you are holding but don't let him have it.
* Lower the treat to the floor, and as you are doing that, your dog should follow it down. Be sure to say "lay down" as your dog begins to lower himself.
* He should lower himself all the way down to the floor.
* Only give him the treat once he is completely on the floor. Repeat the words "lay down" many times: Say, "Good boy, lay down. Lay down you good boy. You're laying down."
* Practice this several times during the day and other several days.

After your dog has learned the command to 'lay down', you can practice it with 'stay'. It's all right to let your dog down and stay for 15-20 minutes. It's okay if he falls asleep. Once in a while it is helpful when he needs to calm down.

ONLY GIVE YOUR DOG THE TREAT WHILE HE IS LYING DOWN, NOT AFTER HE GETS UP. WHEN HE GETS UP, GIVE HIM LOTS OF HUGS AND KISSES!

Always give your dog praise. Show him you are really happy with your voice and body language. (Dogs smile too, so when you are happy it will let them know you're satisfied if you have a huge grin on your face, trust me - it's true.)

At first the dog will get right back up, but as time goes on
you can lengthen the time the dog stays in the down position by
waiting to give him praise.

Repeat three to five times at each session. Repetition is
important but you don’t want to do too much at one time. If you
really want to drill it in, you can have several sessions spaced
out throughout the day.

There’s more rewards than meets the eye with training your dog.
For one the dog gets used to listening to his name. He also will
get used to doing things on your command. All in all, training
strengthens your positions – you as leader and helps the dog feel
secure. Spend a couple of minutes each day training your dog.
This will help cement your friendship.

Answer 2

Dogs are spazzy and have short attention spans! Make sure that what every command you use to make him lay, that it is ONE WORD. " lay down' may confuse him. 'lay' or 'down' by itself is easier and is not confused with sit, come etc. If you use 'down' to tell him to get off the couch, stop jumping on you etc, then don't use it to make him lie. You can phsyically lay him down by stretching out his paws and saying the command.

When he responds to the command priase him profusely!
Rewards/positive reinforcement, either through praise or treats work well. Figure out if your dog is a treat dog or a dog who responds to petting and 'good boy'. Use the cheapest method so that in the future you won't have to always use treats. Make sure that the dog is not distracted. Only one person should give the dog the command at the time. You don't want to work while you are playing, so don't expect your dog to respond well to a training session while running up and down the yard playing fetch.

Answer 3

Patience, whatever you did to teach the dog sit, stay and shake is what you need to do with laying down. Aid your dog into the prone position while repeating the command (verbal as well as hand signals) and reward the dog with a treat. Keep doing this and you should be on your way.

Answer 4

I have an 8 month old lab who will sit, shake, give high-five, speak, and "dance" on command, but it's taken us forever to get him to lay. He's just starting now - so don't give up - we're using your method as well. Now that we can get him down we're trying to teach him to roll over, but he just moves his head around in circles - LOL.

Answer 5

take the treat and push it back over above his head and make him sit then lead him down to the floor and don't give it too him untio he stays still on the ground on his belly.then do it once without a treat in ur hand before u give him the treat. when he coooperates then give him the treat and pet him a lot and he will start doing it even without a treat. he wil associate being told he has done good and u petting him with the treat and soon they will mean the same thing. dogs want to please naturally so they connect treats with praise very quickly.

Answer 6

That's exactly what you should do to teach him how. Make sure to say "lay down" while you bring the treat down to the floor. Praise him everytime he does it right. Eventually take away the treat away and only give it to him after he follows the voice command. Good luck.

Answer 7

well since your dog can already sit maybe you should start from there and hold the treat up to its nose (while its sitting) and then say 'down' while your bringing the treat down to the floor, but thats what you keep doing then you stop taking it to the floor after about two weeks cuz the down think will still be in his head so you say it and he should go down.

Answer 8

Have a treat in your hand and when he sits, hold the treat in front of his nose, then move your hand with the treat onto the ground in front of him, while you say the word "lay down" or "down". He should follow your hand with the treat and lay down, eventually. Keep doing this over and over and he will soon be following your command.

Answer 9

ya just get a choke colar and then tell him down if he doesn't then step on the leash more and more until he is down meanwhile say down and point to the ground.

Answer 10

yep, that's how to do it until he learns that signal without the treat!

also use the word "down" when you do that. Pretty soon he will know the word "down"