Wahay! Drop!

We've got 'drop' as in lie down!

It's still not secure as she only does it for a treat the majority of the time - but hey! She knows what it means!

I've just got The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey - had a quick scan through and looks good - got lots of reading to do! Just need to make sure college work gets a look in too

Will keep you updated!

oh also - we're getting there with 'stand' not with feet right, but getting up!

Been watching her tail and it's wagging all the way through training so I'm on target!

Well done Lottie, that's great news

So pleased Takara is loving the training sessions too

Yep great news

When it comes to teaching commands first use treats all the time. Then slowly give the treats at intervals making those intervals bigger - and then every now and again, give a SUPER prize/treat. This is a great way to make the dog learn commands to do even when they don't see a treat.

I know this works because SB told me to do it with Rocky
(thanks SB!)

Nice one Lottie

You have a very clever girl there

Well done Lottie & Takara Are you using the treat as a lure or as a reward?

SB - to begin with, I was using the treat as a lure... that's how I read how to do it.

I managed to get her to drop this morning without a treat because she was jumping up and I needed her to calm down but as soon as she realised there was no treat she got up again - still, she did it!

Thanks for the advice Azz...

That's exactly right Lottie . You use the food as a lure to teach the behaviour. Once the pup understands what 'drop' means then you don't need to lure, but you should use your treats to reward the requested behaviour once it has been performed. You will need to keep up the rewards for each 'drop' for quite a while until she is older and really reliable. Make sure that the reward is given to her when she is down, if she moves to sit up for the treat then no reward Once her responses are solid you can phase out rewarding every drop and just reward the straightest/fastest.

Thanks SB.

What I did was lure her down to begin with with the treat in front of her in my hand but on the floor, she just lunged at it so I applied very gentle pressure between her shoulder blades until she laid down. As she laid down I said 'drop'.
Then, when she had got it, I started to just put the treat there and not touch her and say 'drop' then when she got there, let go of the treat so it was on the floor for her to pick up while she was down there.

Now I can stand with the treat nearer to me than the floor and say 'drop' and move my hand towards the floor she lays down and I drop the treat on the floor in front of her nose so that she is laying down to get it.

Any further steps from here, I will do what you have told me to do from now.
Thankyou

Very good Lottie that you have already progressed from luring to rewarding Some pups take a lot longer to cotton on - looks as though Takara is a smart girl However, don't be discouraged if she regresses as that can often happen. Just go back a step in the training and build up again.