I can;t get my dog in a down position...

    • Bronze
    Chuffy said it.  Clicker training is marvelous.  What Chuffy said is correct.  However, in order for your dog to understand what clicker is all about, what you'll want to do the very first thing you get a clicker is get your dog's favorite treat, hardly any dog can resist pieces of hotdog by the way.  Ok, now that you have the treats all ready, you will want your dog near you and all you are going to do is click and instantly give your dog a treat.  During this time, do not ask your dog to do anything.  Keep repeating this for about 12 times or so; it's also best to do this before your dog has had her dinner.  :)  The key to clicker training is clicking the second the dog begins to perform the behavior you want her to preform.  Timing is very crucial, but once you begin, you'll get the hang of it.  Also, do not use any commands when you begin a new behavior.  Clicker training is basically used with your dogs behavior.  In other words, you will want to watch your dog closely, as soon as you see her getting ready to sit if that's what you want her to do, then you would instantly click and treat when you see her do that.  For lying down you could put a treat in your hand and lead her nose towards the floor when her nose gets near to the floor, click and treat.  You can find alot of info online about clicker training.  Good luck.
    • Gold Top Dog
    For Shippo, I balled the treat in my fist, put it up to his nose so he could smell it, then brought it down to the ground and put it between his two front paws. I kept it there while he pawed at it, mouthed at it, licked it, etc. and then, he eventually instinctually went into a down as he prepared to work on getting to the treat (getting more comfortable maybe). When he did that, I immediately released the treat. It took lots of repetition, but that's how I started out with him. >^^;<
    • Bronze

    Rebeckak,There is a great book on how to read your dog's body language. If you go to:http://www. Dogwise.com, you will find a book (and DVD) called, 'Calming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You'.I bought this book used on Amazon.com for about seven dollars. It's a great little book to have.