i am beginning to teach Delta to lay down. No command yet, just shaping the behavior. It got my wheels turning. What commands do y'all use? I was thinking "lay" and then saving "down" for preventing her from jumping up on people. But then started thinking again (unfortunately I like to make simple things complicated), is there even a need for the "down" command, or should that just be a part of her normal behavior (not jumping up on people).
I've always used 'down' with all my dogs as the cue to go into what is usually taught as the down. To greet people it's a sit position before she is allowed to greet/be greeted (you do have to train your humans though ). No sit no attention. I use 'off' as a cue for anything which would fall into jumping on people, furniture, counter surfing etc. I think we all have different ideas and cues though. It's really what works for you and your puppy and consistency with the cue you use for a specific behaviour
I use 'down' for lie down. I don't have a cue for stopping my dog jumping at people, I just expect him not to do it. I don't have a cue to tell him to stop doing anything - counter surfing, move off the sofa etc. I just tell him what I want him to do eg sit, come, follow my hand etc. It's always better to tell a down what you do want them to do, rather than what you don't want them to do.
I use DOWN for lie down. I say FEET (on the floor) for not jumping. This applies in any situation where I don't want the feet to leave the floor. For instance he asks if he can come up on the chesterfield and I'm doing something there I say FEET. I read a dog training article once that said words starting with "F" expel a puff of air and this is off putting to dogs and they back away. So I said FEET because it seemed to fit so well with my goal. Well, some dogs don't mind a puff of air at all and act like you are sharing a bit of the breakfast you had two hours ago with them. And, most people here say OFF. I think it would have been better to use the same language most others do for those times my dog has to be handled by strangers, at the Vet, at a trial, at training.
I use "floor" for laying down, because people (myself included) are forever using "down" when they mean something different - dog jumps up, "down", dog puts paws on the kitchen surface, "down", dog jumps in your spot on the sofa, "get down". Not jumping up should be default behaviour (we're getting there, slowly) that doesn't need a cue, but I think that our human instincts fire up and we feel we just have to narrate every last little detail.
I use 'drop' for 'down' as we'd worn out 'down' meaning ' get off' ( the sofa etc). Though to be honest Molly relies heavily on a hand signals for drop, so perhaps it wouldn't make much difference!
Hi there,just to add, make sure when you choose your cue, that everyone in the house understands not just your dog.....Oh my Hubby,love him to bits but 3 years on he still uses DOWN when he means OFF!
I use "down" for lay down and "off" for get off. Picking cues is super frustrating especially as you keep adding cues! and then even when I pick one I keep forgetting what I had picked so need to write them down right away I lost my agility notes from last fall and don't remember some of the cues were!
I know what you mean. I am first having to train myself, then the dog, and the family. No small task.
