Training Your Dog To Lie Down And Stay

Jumping up and chasing is part of every dog’s natural behavior, but most people don’t enjoy your dog jumping up on them – and it can also be dangerous.

By teaching your dog to lie down on command you can easily stop your dog from jumping up on people.

Here’s the steps:

With your dog on your left side, and in the down position, give the command “Stay”.

Holding the leash with your right hand, move your left hand down towards the dog, and walk away.

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Remember to keep eye contact with your dog, and hold the leash loosely as you walk away. Do not use a food reward when training the dog to stay down, since he will want to follow after you.

Still maintaining eye contact, turn to face him and repeat “Stay”. Reward the dog by saying “Good dog”. Then gradually extend the amount of time he’s in the down position until your dog stays down for several minutes.

After being trained to remain in the down position while you’re actually there in front of him, your dog can be trained to stay even if you’re not there. Just repeat the first three steps, and then leave the room.

Use a mirror to look around the door, to make sure that the dog doesn’t move.

After a few minutes return to your dog and reward him by saying “Good dog”. You should reward your dog calmly and quietly when he’s still lying down. Be careful not to excite the dog, and do not reward him while he’s getting up.

Release your dog from the down position with the word “OK”

One of the important things you need to remember is to not excite your dog while you’re training him this.

Here’s why: Excitement can be a powerful reward, and if he associates it with the end of a training exercise, he’ll only ever look forward to the end and not the process. This will make training him harder.

Remember: You need to train your dog to remain lying down even when something unexpected happens, such as visitors arriving.

If your dog moves while you’re watching him through the mirror, just go back in to the room and move around him so you’re in his sight. Once he can stay in the down position when you walk round him, go back to doing the same exercise with you being out of the room.

To prepare for training your dog in distracting environments, you can make loud noises while you’re watching him through the mirror.

When your dog starts to move, go back into the room and repeat the “Down” command. Don’t rush towards your dog or become angry and frustrated – this will just get your dog excited.