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Text by: David Harris

Video and Training by: Cindy Jacobs

Featured puppy: Gus von Prufenpuden

In day five of the puppy training vlog, Cindy teaches Gus the down command. If your puppy is targeting your hand properly you will have no problem getting him to follow your hand, and go down. The most common mistake people make while working on the down is pulling the puppy forward while trying to teach the down with a sweeping hand signal that moves from the puppy towards you instead of dropping down. Instead, make sure that your hand signal goes straight from the puppy's nose to its toes. Slowly at first and then a more normal signal can be developed as the puppy starts to understand what you're asking of them. In the very beginning it may be necessary to reward the puppy just for lowering their head without raising their butt off the ground. A key point of shaping techniques is taking a small part of a behavior and then building on it. In this video Gus goes down quickly without much encouragement, but your results may vary. Be patient. Go slowly and allow the puppy to get some type of reward for making an effort in the right direction. If the puppy gets no reward she may simply give up trying. So, just ask for a little head movement and then a little more and very soon you will see that the puppy is easily and willingly going all the way down. As the puppy learns that the downward motion of you're hand is a signal to go down you can introduce the verbal command you want associated with this behavior. Down in English, Platz in German and Gamungaha in Swahili :)

A favorite saying of mine is "The fastest way to train a dog is slowly". I don't suggest you skip steps here. Take your time. Develop excellent communication. Keep working on your conditioned re-enforcers "That's It and your Clicker" and keep working on building motivation to please. Make your training sessions short, happy and always try to end them on a high note with the puppy making positive movements in the right direction. Puppy training is fun. If you're not having fun, if your puppy isn't having fun then you're rushing things and skipping steps. Back off and go for a walk with your puppy. This is no time to lose your cool or try to force anything on your puppy. Never train with your puppy if you are distracted, watching T. V. working with the other dogs, watching the kids or generally to busy to give the puppy all your undivided attention. Your puppy is trying to learn, it is not fair to him to not give him your full attention at this point.

Remember that teaching the puppy to target your hand is critical to speeding up the use of shaping techniques. If your puppy isn't targeting (following your hand) then you will have little success with the methods portrayed in these videos. Go back and work on this step if you're having problems getting the puppy to sit, down, sit up or come. Not targeting, not having motivation and trying to move the puppy forward too quickly are common reasons the puppy would not be doing well at this point in the training.

As always please feel free to ask questions and please enjoy your puppy and have fun.

David Harris