Puppy won’t lie down

[Powertothepetal]

Any tips?

He’s great at sitting, he can stand up and shake his paw and is learning wait but i can’t lure him into a down, he just crawls along the floor…

Does he need to?

Our pup took over a year to do lie down, I don't know why it took so long. I'd long given up on it.

Have you tried the under the leg route where you sit with your legs outstretched and your knee slightly raised then lure them under it? If you search I bet you’ll find lots of YouTube videos.

This is weird, I've been trying and failing to teach my stupid whippet pup lie down this morning and here is this thread in active while I'm eating my lunch

Off to YouTube now!

I had a treat in my hand closed let her sniff it then put my hand to the floor and say down and not move my hand or give treat until she lay down. Have him sit first. It took a few attempts though. If that fails wait for pup to lie down then say down and give treat. Each time you catch him lying down say down and give treat.

Have you tried on carpet rather than hard floor..? Ours found doing it on hard floor too slippery at first

It's quite an uncomfortable/unnatural position really.

I would try and get them to do it on a soft surface (bed, mat) rather than hard floor, and use your leg as a kind of lure. So sit on the floor with your knees bent in an arch, and try and get the dog to crawl under them.

Otherwise as a PP said, wait until he naturally lies down and reward him for it, and then add the command in afterwards.

I have to say, though, mine is four and rarely ever lies down in the way they're "supposed" to. He sits well or flops, lol.

When we did puppy training they said some breeds/dogs find lying down on command very physically uncomfortable.
Never push or force them (however gently or helpfully)

We sat on floor whilst pup sitting and guided treat down from nose to floor repeating "down" and taking hand down to flat on floor and she did get it quite quickly but she is not very comfortable doing it

They suggested if dog very uncomfortable to move on, try other things and go back to down.

I stood mine on the top stair and lured his head, using a treat, below the top step (if that makes sense!)

If your dog is crawling you have the treat too far forward.

The treat needs to go from the nose to chest slightly backwards to the ground.

Another way is to have the treat on the dogs nose and move it slightly backwards - this is great to teach a down from a stand.

Another way is to lure your dog into their bed and treat the bed. Dg will happily go into the bed. Slightly withold the speed of giving the treat the dog will sit. When they are happily sitting for a treat, slightly hold back the treat and most dogs will lie down as this is the usualy position to be in their bed. Mark and reward.

Always train a down on a comfy mat, carpet

Thank you everyone for the tips, will try them later!
With regards to catching a down naturally, he literally never lies down. Unless he’s sleeping.