BTW once shes down & u are feeding her in the down, firmly run your hands over her body, gently apply firm gentle pressure all the time getting the "key" word in. Ie "GOOOOd dowwwn, thats a brilliant Dowwwwn, what a good Dowwwn,Dowwwn,Dowwwwn thats it brilliant Dowwwwn"

The Doowwwwn, works well fif you keep it a gentle low pitched relaxing word, elongate it with a deepish soft "massaging" type voice

Well that's interesting Mich, coz I NEVER thought to do it when she's calm and NOT wanting to jump up at him, so I'll do that!!!

Yes, that's how I say the dowwwwwn, sort of long and deeeeeep Lol, once she's down of course, coz when I first want it it's a short, sharp down but loud (and boy am I loud!!!) I did the exact thing you have just told me to there, I gave pressure along her back as I stroked her (but mainly coz I wanted to keep her there Lol!) and was saying Gooooood down, doooooood girl, just like that! Oh I'm getting there, la la la la la la la skips off!!

Cool Beans! keep me informed if any probs with it pop up!

Sounds as if things are going well, husband training is usually the hardest thing

Wys
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This has been a really useful thread and reminded me of what I was first taught at training (and had forgotten ). That DOWN is for being calm and quiet and SIT is before something exciting happens ... before jumping out the car, before going to play with other dogs, before having a game etc. So now that I've been reminded I can put it into practice. No wonder Tala jumped up at strangers, she probably thought that she was being asked to sit before the exciting bit, that is, the jumping up!

Hi talassie.
That is indeed one theory, and a veyr valid one.
There is another theory that says you dont need to teach yur dog the 'stay' command, as that is actually what a 'sit' is meant to be!
ie, if you tell your dog to sit, he should not break the sit until released.
Thus, sit as prelude to an exiting event would not count in that instance.
But i would agree that if you can dull your dogs ardour easier with a down than a sit (which makes sense as laying down is, after all, more relaxing than sititng down), then go for the down.
The 'sit as stay' sit can also be high standard obedience standard, and some of us are just pet dog owners who arent looking for such a level.

Yes I do agree with that and I would not normally expect her to break the sit until she is released. But I think perhaps someone bending over her to stroke her (she is being touched) could mean to her that she is being released. I know she hasn't been given the release command but I usually touch her as well to release her. And as she is only 15 months and still learning then she could be confused?
But we do hope to do competitive obedience in the future so perhaps I need to be clearer with my commands!

Well my sit is for an opposite effect, I use it when I want peace and tranquility and it doesn't preceed something exciting , I tend to make her sit when I say, want to stop and talk to somebody and she's pratting around if she's onlead etc. she is made to sit and be quiet, so that's the sit for me. I tend to use the "wait" command a lot more, i.e. for when we arrive somewhere in the car, she is made to "wait" (along with Georgie) when I open the door, fix the leads on, whatever, before she is given the realease command of ok. This wait has been an invaluable tool for me in the past, especially if they're offlead and approaching, say a road, and I need them to stay exactly where they are, so I say "wait" quickly and sharply for them to do so, whereas possibly that is wrong, it should maybe be the "down" so that I know they're going to stay there, but for me, it's always been a wait and it's sufficient for what I need, they've always just stood and waited. A long drawn OUT wait, however, would then mean something exciting is about to happen but they're not going to be allowed it yet, so again, back to the car wait, yes, they're going on a nice walk, that is exciting, so after the initial short, sharp wait for them not to jump out until I'm ready, they then get a reinstatement of my looooooong wait before being released. Funny, coz I have never associated the sit command with something exciting about to happen, it's almost always been for peace and calm whilst I am doing something, be it chatting and I want them to stay still beside me, getting their dinner ready, etc. etc. At the end of the day I suppose, if they do the command we ask for whatever reason, as long as you stick to the same one, who cares really??!!

We've gone back a step now, Dave arrived home this morning from his travels, I had just arrived home from a walk, and I was ready, BUT, she jumped up, went berserk but it took a lot less time for me to get her down than to sit, and although she broke it a couple of time (well, daddy IS exciting ya know!) I was quite happy with it I suppose, definitely room for improvement. The problem I have is, Dave isn't quick enough with his reward (the fuss!) he tends to be standing there watching what I'm doing with her, rather than getting down and fussing her exactly when he SHOULD be, i.e. when she's doing as I ask, so I have to think what I'm doing with her plus I've got to give him the commands too!!! Men are far worse to train than any puppy, as you have already said Wys!!!!

Hiya, I agree with that except that many owners won't be consistent with using the release command... would you agree with that or not?

Wys
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