Hurray!! Both my puppies now sit on command!!

We are moving on to lie down and I need some help!

Firstly, what to say! Unfortunatley we have already used 'down' for jumping up ,climbing on furniture etc and I dont want to confuse them, but I heard somewhere that using two word.. ie 'lie down' just confuses them! Any suggestions?

Next question! How do I get them to lie down, I have tried lowering the treat to the floor but they just go mental for the treat! Is it best to gently pull their front legs in front so they go down? Any tips would be really great, its been a long time since I did puppy training!!

On the subject of puppy training.. can anyone recommend a class in or near preston?

One more! regarding socialization. We have met quite a few dogs and they are 13 weeks today. I read a lot about how importiant it is to socalise but lots of the dogs we meet seem to be quite big and scare them! Any advice?

Thank you!!!

if you already use the word 'down' for something else then try using the word 'flat'.

entice them into a flat position by holding the treat by their nose and slowly moving it down towards the floor - as soon as they hit the right position use your key word and give them lots of praise.

we had to change a few of our key words very early on to avoid confusion. we find these work best

sit
down (saying down again gets their heads down too )
off (for off the furniture etc)
speak (barkies for a treat)
finger on lip for a quiet speak
come (recall without a whistle)
2 pips on a whistle for a recall
wee wee's - for the toilet training
a firm 'aaahhh' for interupting bad behaviour
paw
'and the other one' (for the other paw)
'up' for jumping in the bath etc.
fetch

Short and simple

we're still working on our 'roll over' and 'go and put the kettle on' but they get there in the end

You might already know, but training is much easier if you use an extra tasty treat that they dont normally get - small cubes of cheese, warm chicken, chopped up hot dog sausages all work great - but save them just for training and dont spend too long each time trying.
Also dont use the keyword too often if they arent responding as they just learn to associate the keyword with ignoring you

hi there,

as someone has just said you could use flat or even drop. i know a very good trainer but she is near st. helens just off the east lancs. shes called lynda edmonson and runs dog friendly training. it is all positive reinforcement training using a clicker. there are a couple of people in the class that dont use a clicker but have a 'marker' word that they use. shes very good (but i am biased!!).

good luck with your poopies

we taught 'down' by putting the dog in a sit, then showing a treat, and finally holding it to the floor - covered by a hand. - when the dog is laying down (they go down naturally to see if they can see under your hand!) we release the treat and say 'down' - they aren't 100% on it yet, but will go down with the signal of a hand on the floor, without the treat now - I'm finding 'get up now you lazy pup' much more of a challenge!

Hi

I wouldn't worry about them being timid at 13 weeks.

Stanley was until about 20 weeks or more. Puppy classes helped him with confidence. Unfortunately he's now over confident and goes around wanting to play with everyone and bouncing on their heads!!!! Literally!

Going for the old snip in 10 days.

Couple of ways we teach down:

'Nose to toes' = pup in sit, treat near nose, take treat in a straight line down in between front paws then out away from pup ' you are making a kind of 'L shape' with the treat.

Similar to above, but some pups will lie if you take the treat from nose to behind the front paws.

Have another failsafe - works everytime - but see how you get on with those first.

With socilisation - don't overdo it. So many people now do things like sit their 12wk old pup outside a busy supermarket (pup is obviously overwhelmed) but owner thinks they are 'socialising' - just using that as an example - but you get what I mean Advice I would give, at 13 wks make sure pup has positive offlead encounters with other dogs which you know are okay.

We did a similar thing, we got Tahlulah to sit, then held the treat on the floor between her front legs so she would naturally lay down, mind you I tried it with my mums dog, he just jumped around and went mental So I suppose all dogs a different.