Training puppy to go 'down' at a distance

[nimbs]

Not sure if title makes sense - but basically how do you teach a puppy (she's just 8 months) to go into the down position at a distance?

She's a bearded collie x collie so is 'quite' intelligent and am trying to think of other training things we can do with her to stop her getting bored.

thanks

I am no expert but at the kennel club training we attend the Distance Down Stay signal is shown by raising the arm straight up in the air.

This is started by raising right arm while putting left hand, with tasty treat, down to the floor. Puppy is praised when he goes down and the word "down" is said when he is in position to reinforce.

My 7 month pup understands what is required but couldn't yet do it at a distance with distractions.

thank you - will try with her tommorrow -

I would get a visual cue for down - as tibni suggests - It would have to be a very clear hand signal that they can easily see at a distance.

First of all train her to go down to this signal close to you (am assuming you already have a down command?) - you can do this by using the hand signal first then saying 'down' (or whatever your current command is) - so always the new cue first (hand signal) followed by the old one. give a treat/ praise everytime and gradually she should start associating going down with the hand signal (this is much faster if you do clicker training? Do you do this?).

Then, once you have the command sorted in a hand signal - start moving further away from her and they giving the command? Gradually build up the distance. If it fails at any point, go back a stage.

If you looking for stuff to do with her - I highly recommend clicker training if you haven't tried it before! You'll need a good book/ video tho - or to be shown by someone. You can then train all kinds of things - eg. putting toys in a box etc?

Think minimu is the resident clicker expert on here tho!

You can also train it with a sharp blast on a whistle. Very effective to stop dogs running headlong into dangerous situations.

I am trying to teach my JRT this at the moment. I'm doing one to one with a police dog trainer.

We are starting with a 'sit' at a close distance on one of those long training leads. She seems to be getting the hang of it a little. I hold an arm up at too.

Apparently this is the most difficult command to teach a dog and your dog is still very young so it will take a lot of time and patience!

Get a solid down close to you.

Then throw food away from you and the dog will eat it, keep throwing the food away the dog will pause in the away position and then ask them to go down. You may need to walk towards them the first few times to stop them moving forward.

Timing is important and you may need to start off by just throwing the food to get the dog to be used to working away from you to start with.

Sorry everyone only just got back to this - everyone poorly at w'end - bloody awful - anyway thanks so much for the tips. She does a brilliant down when next to me - we do use a clicker which she responds to really well - may try the whistle as am guessing it'll be heard from further away.

Thanks again - will let you know how it goes