Teaching Your Dog The Lie Down Command

Training your dog to lie down reliably on your command is an important part of dog training, and naturally follows on from the sit command.

Teaching your dog to lie down on your command also shows him that you’re dominant, which will mean he’s more likely to listen to your other commands, too.

Which will make later obedience lessons easier to accomplish.

Here are the steps for the lie down command:

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With your dog on his leash to your left side, give him the “Sit” command. Then kneel down and tuck his leash under your knees. Hold your dog’s collar with your left hand, and hold a food reward in your right palm.

With the food reward in your hand, let the dog smell the scent. This will focus your dog’s mind in the reward, while your hand under his collar prevents your dog from moving forwards.

Move your right hand down, then forwards between the dog’s forepaws. As your dog drops down to follow the food, give the command “Down”.

As soon as your dog lies down, give him the food reward.

If your dog’s shoulders rise from the down position before you want them to, run your hand firmly down the leash to the collar.

This will control the upwards movement, and it will also apply some mild pressure downwards which will show him he should lie down.

As your dog lies back down, repeat the “Down” command again. Remember that your dog should only leave the down position when you have released him from the training session by saying “OK”.

If your dog isn’t that fussed about receiving a food reward, just try changing the reward. Maybe use a chew toy that the dog likes, or a favorite toy that he would prefer.

Remember: You should only ever apply gentle pressure down on your dog to help him into the down position if he accepts it. If you have a dominant dog, only use rewards.