The "Down" Command
By Fred Hassen

I teach the 'down' command on street corners and sidewalks. There are a number of reasons that I do this. First of all, since my training consists of "real world" training, I find that I am also able to teach the dog not to go into the street until invited at the same time.

There are quite a few advantages to teaching this command on corners and sidewalks. The first is that there is a very clear-cut, defined elevation in the sidewalk that will eliminate creeping right from the beginning. The second reason is that it will make the next progression to the "down in motion" happen at an astonishingly fast pace. Also, if you happen to be using a "foot on the leash" technique to teach it, your foot can get lower than the dog's head and so can your hand if you are using your hand on the leash.

Once you start walking and downing your dog on the corner---the dog quickly will learn that moving forward at all will bring him into the street-----which will in turn get him corrected back to the sidewalk. Even a dog can figure that out pretty quickly. If you are only downing him at corners, or on a sidewalk before you step into the street, the dog is learning two things simultaneously. First, is that whenever you walk into the street -- he must "down" (you can bring a release command in case your jogging or just do not want him to "down", he doesn't have to--I use 'break'). You can also later throw balls in the street, and let him see that until a release command is given -- he has to "down" on the sidewalk. Very quickly after that, you can "down" him when you get to the corner, and continue to walk into the street. Again, the clear cut boundary eliminates the creeping, and makes it visibly very clear what he is supposed to do. You can then progress to just walking into the street and him downing without the command until you release him.

To further "proof" him, you can walk down the street, and before even coming to the end, step diagonally into the street and he should be downing there also. This not going into the street is one of the first exercises that I teach all of my clients, it's a life saver. Now, the dog is learning to "down" without moving forward, and if he does--your correction is for him coming into the street without being asked.

When this is transferred over to grass or whatever, it is pretty firmly imbedded about just dropping immediately. To further teach, every time I cross a street and the dog's paw hits the sidewalk -- I say "sidewalk". Now he is learning what a "sidewalk" is on top of everything else. Later this comes in handy when he makes a mistake or for other reasons, you can direct him back to the "sidewalk", and he knows exactly where to go.

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