Training Down Stays

**Stacy De** · 26th June 2012, 02:14 AM

Cody and I are in week 3 of the Canine Good Citizen classes. He is 6 months old and the youngest of the class. We do not seem to be able to master the art of a down and especially a down stay (everyone else seems to have it mastered)! Just wondering if any of you have had any practice with this. He will go down on a food lure, once given his treat the back end immediately is off the ground. Any help or advise is greatly appreciated!

**HowardtheSpanner** · 26th June 2012, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Stacy De

Cody and I are in week 3 of the Canine Good Citizen classes. He is 6 months old and the youngest of the class. We do not seem to be able to master the art of a down and especially a down stay (everyone else seems to have it mastered)! Just wondering if any of you have had any practice with this. He will go down on a food lure, once given his treat the back end immediately is off the ground. Any help or advise is greatly appreciated!

Have you tried luring him down and then pausing before giving him a treat? Make the pause longer and longer before treating, and then add the "stay" command. Then try to stand up before treating, and then being able to walk away before praising. Eye contact really helps. Howard's learned that he has to look right at me before he'll be released from the stay and treated. Because he knows this he pays far more attention to me, and gives me eye contact most of the time. It also helps with loose lead walking.

How is he with sit stay?

**sunshinekisses** · 26th June 2012, 05:17 PM

Great advice about delaying the treat. I also step on the leash if my dog bounces back up.

**My Henry Boy** · 26th June 2012, 06:41 PM

When our trainer did down stay she would continue to feed treats (like a jackpot slot machine) and continue to say stay. Once they got the hang of it it would be less treats more verbal command, but always repeating and clicking the stay, until eventually it was just a command for stay a count to 20 seconds and treat/click

**Stacy De** · 27th June 2012, 03:49 PM

Thank you so much! The pausing seemed to make all the difference! We worked on this last night and had great success, and this morning it was much better even to the extent that I could have him go down, stay and I could walk about two feet away then return and reward

. I am going to keep working for better eye contact as his loose lead walking has a bit of work still to go. Again thanks!!!

**Lukesmom** · 29th June 2012, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by My Henry Boy

When our trainer did down stay she would continue to feed treats (like a jackpot slot machine) and continue to say stay. Once they got the hang of it it would be less treats more verbal command, but always repeating and clicking the stay, until eventually it was just a command for stay a count to 20 seconds and treat/click

For the purposes of the CGC, you do not need a down stay. It can be a sit stay when you walk away to do the recall. My cavalier will not do a down stay on certain surfaces, and initially, we had a really hard time in his classes teaching him how to do a down. I've stopped teaching an actual stay recently, and I'm just teaching my dog to do whatever he was instructed to do, and hold the position until instructed otherwise. If he gets up, I just put him back to where he was. Anyway, I would teach it by luring him down first with a treat, but I would actually feed from the other hand. The lure him down with your hand like it has a treat, but have nothing in it. Start luring him down and gradually moving your hand away little by little as he is able to stay when you do that. Keep feeding from the other hand though, because he might be tempted to follow the hand that has the food in it (I find this to be especially true if you have ever taught the dog to target your hand, you almost have to unteach it in that situation). Once he can stay when you move your hand, start adding more and more time to it.

**DZee** · 29th June 2012, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by Stacy De

Cody and I are in week 3 of the Canine Good Citizen classes. He is 6 months old and the youngest of the class. We do not seem to be able to master the art of a down and especially a down stay (everyone else seems to have it mastered)! Just wondering if any of you have had any practice with this. He will go down on a food lure, once given his treat the back end immediately is off the ground. Any help or advise is greatly appreciated!

Same with Wrigley. He is still a work in progress too. ~ *smile*
He will "stay" when it is just US here at home...but when the grand-kids or anyone else come over???
...His down/ stay lasts about 20 seconds. But he is learning.
Like everyone else said....the slot machine treats thing seems to do the trick.
But then w/ Wrigley..sometimes that doesn't always work..as he gets too excited....lol..
Is your pup neutered yet? Our just got neutered last month. Vet told us once the testerone/hormone are completely diminished ( may take a few months)...they will start to settle down from the jumping up & hyper-ness.

**Stacy De** · 2nd July 2012, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by DZee

Same with Wrigley. He is still a work in progress too. ~ *smile*
He will "stay" when it is just US here at home...but when the grand-kids or anyone else come over???
...His down/ stay lasts about 20 seconds. But he is learning.
Like everyone else said....the slot machine treats thing seems to do the trick.
But then w/ Wrigley..sometimes that doesn't always work..as he gets too excited....lol..
Is your pup neutered yet? Our just got neutered last month. Vet told us once the testerone/hormone are completely diminished ( may take a few months)...they will start to settle down from the jumping up & hyper-ness.

Yes I like the term work in progress!! Funny you asked about being neutered, he was also neutered last month. Our training is taking place at the breeders, this past Saturday I thought with everyones help down stays were going so much better and we would just awe the instructor. Well we get there and Cody turns into a drooling mess ( has never happened before ) we are talking slobber everywhere!! Would not do a thing (except drool)!! Not a sit, not a down, not a walk on a loose leash we are talking nothing. I was a mess, could not figure out what went so wrong. We found out after class the breeder had 4 females in heat inside the house. The trainer just looked at me a smiled and said "well now we know where Cody's mind was at". Hope the hormones go quickly

**HowardtheSpanner** · 9th July 2012, 05:35 PM

Brilliant! So glad it worked!!

**Stacy De** · 30th July 2012, 11:25 PM

Update..... CGC Test was yesterday a.m. and I am happy to announce we passed with flying colors!! We actually passed on all 10 items!! I really had my doubts as his loose leash walking is still a work in progress, but he did it yesterday like a pro!!! And to think I lost sleep over this on Saturday night

Again thanks to all of you not only on this thread but others that I read for advise. You all are the best!!

CGC Testing and Graduation 056 by StacyandCody, on Flickr

CGC Testing and Graduation 072 by StacyandCody, on Flickr

CGC Testing and Graduation 064 by StacyandCody, on Flickr