Geekerbell

Ok, Molly is just over 4 months old. We finished puppy class, which she did wonderfully in, and they let us start "Obedience 101" a few weeks early. first class was yesterday.
To preface, I've been trying to teach Molly "down" (to lay down) on my own for weeks. She seems to "get" everything else and has been very succesful with all other commands I've taught her and is getting much better at staying by my side on leash (unless of course we are visiting the duck pond, lol).
But trying to teach her to lay down by the usual way of getting to a sit first the trying to lure her down with treats has not worked for me. I thought I was doing something wrong.

So yesterday, I have the trainer help me. She can't get Molly to do it either. Seems she is already so low to the ground that she doesn't need to lay down in order to get the treat. We also tried putting her on one of the agility tables so we could bring the treat lower, hopefully getting her to lay down. Nope. She just decided it would be better to jump off and grab the treat, instead of laying down. The trainer has no idea how to get her to do it either. *sigh*

Any ideas? Thanks!

Laura and Molly

murraysmom

Pet therapy teams in my organization have to go through training and testing before they can be registered as therapy dogs- alot of folks have problems with "down". I always suggest reinforcing the natural behavior: in other words, when you're sitting around at home and your dog goes into a down position, reinforce that behavior with praise and a treat while saying the word "down".The dog will soon respond to the word and go into the down position when you give the command. You have to be vigilant and consistant, but it works.

Geekerbell

Thank you so much for that suggestion. So am I to assume it will take longer with this approach? That is fine, as long as she eventually gets it. Just wondering what I should expect as a time frame.
Thanks you!!

Gracie's Mama

When I trained other puppies I sometimes had to "help" them. Like gently pushing the tush down for "sit". Maybe while she's in the sit position you could pull her paws out and push down. I'm sure you know what I mean. Very gently. And not forcing anything. Just showing her what you want. Make sure to say "down" and to give the treat! Worth a try anyway. If she doesnt like you moving her, then leave it and maybe try again tomorrow.

CatherineM

I've never been successful with the down command. I know that can do it, because I've seen a lot of flat basset pictures lately, but have no idea how to achieve it when I want it to happen. I'm hoping to train our next one as a therapy dog, so I will get to cross that bridge eventually.

Esther

is there a "too late to go to obediance class" age?
almsot two over here. was always a yard dog till the huminz got me at 18mo.
almost done getting settled--i moved in on february 19th. beginning to get the housetraining thing. incidentally i had a breakthrough moment last night when I knocked on the door to go out. they were so proud. so yeah now that i'm getting that and everything it might be time to move along and start actually LEARNING some commands. I'm a little behind as I got a late start... I don't wanna be the oldest girl in class...

Geekerbell

Aawww Esther, of course you aren't too old! Molly is by far the youngest in class. We have a couple of rescued pups who are a couple years old.
Have your owner sign you up and show those younger pups what you can do!

Geekerbell

This is what my mom-in-law was telling me to do. But I don't typically take her dog training advice because she is very "old school" and not too much into the positive training techniques. Not saying that's wrong, but just different.
I think I may try it also, just gently, to see what happens. But I know that Molly, like I think a lot of bassets may be, can be a little stubborn and tends to not want to learn something new unless she thinks it's her idea, or there's something REALLY good in it for her.

Kirska

Anabelle went to obedience class at the young age of 8 years. Some people looked at us like we were crazy but it was fun and definitely worthwhile. Most of the dogs in the class were fully mature, probably around 3-4 years old.

She was definitely the class clown, especially when it came time to learn to walk on a leash.

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Mom to Anabelle and Lila, rescued ladies and Harley, Corgi/Beagle/Basset/?? mutt

"Saving just one dog won't change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog." - Richard C. Call

mhvonalmen8908

Another way you can try to teach her to lay down is to sit on the floor with one of your legs bent into a triangle with your foot flat on the floor. Then, try and lure her under your leg. She should have to lay down to get under your leg. Just keep sliding your foot out to make the triangle shorter if need be. I don't know how tall your pup is. As she goes down say "down" and then click and treat. I don't know if you use clicker training but I've learned that my two respond well to the click. Then they know exactly what I want and what they're getting treats for doing. Good luck with it! It was hard to teach Doppler 'down' but he eventually got it. Now we've just got to teach Virga. I think that'll be interesting.

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Megan & Chris
-Mom & Dad to Doppler (2 year old Basset/Redbone/Golden mix) and Virga (1 year old Basset)