Down Command for Drug Dogs

Video Transcript

Hi! I'm Captain Ray Varner with the Page Police Department for expertvillage.com. What I want to do today is the down position with a new dog. Most people when they train the down position do a corrective measure to make the dog go into the down position. The dog doesn't know the down position and you start with a correction, then you're starting off on the wrong foot all together. If you tell a little kid that he's going to take an algebra test and he's only 5 years old, how can you correct him for that if he doesn't know what you're teaching. So what we want to do is we want to physically show you how to do it. With the dog's sitting here in the heel position and we say down. He says I don't know and he's just looking around. What we want to do is we want to take the leash and put it on the small of his back. Then we want to say down and we want to swoop both legs so he's like this, and then we place him in the down position. What we want to do is have my hand on his back and holding him here and say, "Down, good boy, down." We emphasize the fact that this is the down position. Then after we get him stable then we stand up. We say good boy and then we say stay, and now he's in the down position. As you can see from his face, he's learning the down position. You can see from his face, there was no negative here; it's a conditioning mode. We want him down there and this is where he's supposed to be. We want him parallel with you; you want him comfortable. Then I come back up and I hold it; I hold the leash. Then you can praise him. Remember anything from the heel position is physical praise. So I can actually come down and pet him and praise and say, "Good boy, you did a good job." This is the down position. You want to swoop the leg, take it off, swoop the leg, and then push him straight down. If you have to you can put your forearm on his back and bend down to help you push him down. If he rolls over, then bring him back to the heel position, praise him and start over. If he comes back up here and he broke the position, then instead of jerking him down when he doesn't know what's going on, you say, "No, down." This is the hand command and you swoop the leg so he's like that and then put him in the down position and then say, "Good boy, stay." Then praise him. Good boy.

Watch these related videos

• 
  Down Command for Drug Dogs

  playlist Views: 1,849

• 
  Heel Command for Drug Dogs

  playlist Views: 1,426

• 
  Reading Body Language of Drug Dogs

  playlist Views: 1,902

• 
  Obedience Training Basics for Drug Dogs

  playlist Views: 1,865

• 
  How Much to Train Drug Dogs

  playlist Views: 2,042

• 
  Teach Your Wheaten Terrier to Heel Using These Dog Obedience Training Methods

  playlist Views: 2,240

Community Members who...

• Favorited this Video
• Rated This Video

Thumbs up or Thumbs down? Be the first to rate this video!

Top Tags