Trouble teaching "Lie Down"

[andrewmoquin]

My dog is an almost-2-year-old Dachshund/Terrier mix. She is extremely smart, and can learn tricks fast. She's so far learned sit, stay, and come. But, for some reason, she doesn't seem to want to learn "lie down"! I've read many training books, and I go through the hand motions with a treat in my hand, but she continues to sit there.

Any tips or ideas?

[JoeV]

I'll share some notes from our trainer, she's great. Lucky had the "down" in no time by using this method.

Your Down position is one of great patience and you folks did great with this yesterday – encourage your puppy down with your antics and your hand motions. Always give the support on the rump to anticipate they may pop up. If you need to help them then take your arm over their shoulder placing your left hand on their left leg and your right hand on their right guiding them down while your left elbow rests on their back for support.

Don’t be too quick to slip their legs out for them – give them a moment to recognize what direction you want them to go in. Guide them only if you feel they are not focused on you. ONLY if you are helping them down, give them a compliment and release and praise immediately until they go down on command then begin to build up your time. Using a toy for the more mouthy pups is going to help you obtain the position in a much more comfortable way – the trick is to use the toy the first time, and not the second – on the second rep – give them the toy once they are down – and then use it again on the third rep. – begin to mix up when you will use the toy, so they don’t become so dependent on it and will go down because you have asked them -

Your goal is a 1 minute down with you standing up next to them. Gradually increase your time and once you get to the 1 minute – it will become (3) one min. downs in a row, just like the straight sit. Give them something to chew on while they are down so they don’t get too antsy and grab onto you or the leash.

Remember dogs will gravitate towards sound and motion. Give as much of yourself as you can to animate them into position.

[AussieGirl]

I have heard of someone who had no luck with the usual method of teaching "down", they were told sit down on the floor (the owner that is) and make like a bridge with their legs - feet on the ground knees bent so there was a small gap between the floor and the backs of their legs - small enough for their dog to have to get down on their belly to be able to get under (hope that makes sense to you) and then use treats to encourage the dog to go under their legs causing it to go "down", saying the command as they do. Was a little different to standard methods but they had results instantly and when the dog understood the command they no longer had to make the whole bridge thing anymore.
Another thing as a pup our girl would refuse to do "down" on the tiles (she will now though) could it be the surface your working with?

[KeeperBoy]

We used the bridge method above, just sit on the ground with your legs out. Use TONS and TONS of praise. You can also give treats when the dog is lying down on its own.

[AussieGirl]

My typo. I meant to type sit down but I was yelling at the skin kids to "get into bed and lay down" as I typed LOL. I should stop trying to multi task.