Now I Lay Me Down . . .

Posted on Apr 26 in Small Dog Behavior, Training A Small Dogby Jeff K.Print

Kelsey. Down. Good girl!

Having said that, almost no one teaches his or her dog to lie down on command. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone you know with a dog if the dog knows how to lie down on command. I’ll bet you will find less than one in ten dogs knows how to perform the response on command. (My offer to bet is not valid if you have connections to a police or military canine unit, or if you are certified dog trainer, or you regularly attend a dog training class. Offer also not valid in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, or any U.S. territory. Employees of Kelsey’s Dog House and their families are not eligible to enter. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions apply. See the back of this box for full details.)

In the previous article on leash aggression, I said teaching your dog to lie down on command is the best way to curb aggressive behavior. The down position is a submissive posture from which a dog is least likely to provoke or attack another dog. This is not to say a dog in a down position will not grumble and protest. My dog Royce will often lie in his kennel crate and snarl at other dogs passing by if he feels his territory is threatened. That’s all that happens. He snarls, but the behavior is just bluster. Nothing happens beyond the vocalization.

The down position is a way to instantly neutralize your dog. Dropping into a down position should stop him/her from doing whatever was going on or was about to happen. The applications are endless, though I listed a few at the beginning of this article. I particularly like the down command as an emergency procedure. Let’s say, for example, your dog gets off-leash and make a run towards a busy street. If your dog is well-trained, you should be able to call “Down!” and your dog should immediately stop short and lie down.

Don’t laugh. It works. One time, Royce pulled out of his harness during a walk with my wife. He started to bolt for the busiest road in our neighborhood. I did not have him reliably trained to lie down at the time. My wife called “Royce! Sit!” and darn if that dog didn’t pull up short and plant himself right on the sidewalk. He was so well trained to sit that despite his pounding heart and his desire to go cross-country, he sat and waited for her to join him and re-attach the harness. So, you might ask, isn’t sitting on command good enough for emergencies? In this case, sitting worked, but I tend to think of the sitting position as a starting position. The down position is an ending position. A dog sits while he prepares his next move. A dog that has lied down has concluded his business and is waiting to start the next chapter. No, I prefer the down position as an emergency position because it is a position of rest, not a position of preparation.

Speaking of rest, a dog associates lying down with relaxing. This makes the position the best posture for relaxing the dog in potentially stressful situations. It is a good position to place a dog when encountering new situations. For example, I prefer a dog to lie down before being petted by strangers, especially unfamiliar children. When you place your dog in this position of vulnerability, you have an obligation to make sure the dog does not regret being on the ground. In other words, you must ensure no harm comes to the dog when he has agreed to be vulnerable. All it takes is one bad encounter with another person or dog while lying down to make your dog to forever swear off lying down on command.

Lying down on command is the most important behavior you can teach your dog. The response can be used to prevent your dog from literally running into trouble. It can be used to relax your dog to make unfamiliar situations easier to take. It can neutralize your dog’s tendency to respond aggressively in some circumstances. The down position can be used simply to help your dog wait for whatever is next. Even though it is the most important behavior in a dog’s repertoire, it is probably one of the hardest to teach. We will cover some training techniques for the down position next time.

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