Love your advice on teaching a mini wire haired dachshund to lie down and stay there....

[loveyouradvice]

Just that really.

The challenge is he will happily puts his front paws down and then his bottom goes up.... oops!

We haven't trained him for a while so although some things are very embedded - Sit, stay, come to the whistle, waiting (a LONG time!) to be released to eat his dinner, gopening the door to go into his crate himself and a couple of small tricks - others have lapsed, like this

He is now 9 and is food-motivated - and I feel I have good communication with him.

What are the next steps??

And if you've the time and inclination, the other one I'm keen to teach him is staying on his bag through us having friends for supper - he'll stay there for a bit and then hop off and have a mooch....Hmm!!

Sausages are notoriously difficult to train to lie down as the traditional techniques of lowering treats don’t work on them as they are so low to the ground. We never managed it with ours but a dog trainer who looked after him while we were on holiday eventually cracked it. I have no idea how! (The two trainers we went to classes with when he was younger also failed!).

This makes me feel far less of a failure @TheFlis - thank you!!

I thought it was one of the basic commands that all dogs learnt early on and was feeling very unsuccessful!

I guess it's being clear on what behaviour you're after? Lying down, or staying on their bed? As they are two different things.

My dog doesn't like lying on command (many dogs don't as it's a vulnerable position), but she was a massive PITA when I was in the kitchen, getting under my feet etc.

So, I focused on getting her to sit and stay in her bed while I was in the kitchen.

I started by putting her bed close to where I was working in the kitchen (or sitting, if we had friends round). I then asked her to sit in her bed, and rewarded.

If she stayed in it, I'd periodically go to her, reward, and then move away again. This taught her that staying in the bed = good things.

Got off the bed? I'd return her to it, sit, reward and walk away.

Repeat. Many times!!

Once she got the principle I then moved her bed further away from me. Now, just me dragging the bed into the kitchen is her signal to get in it, lie down, and go to sleep!!

It did take a while though (months). But just repeat repeat repeat.

BUT I didn't focus on the lying down part, as she just wouldn't. Rather, on her being in her bed (she always ended up lying as she's lazy!!). HTH x

Lying down can be quite painful for some dogs - especially dogs like sausages as they have such short legs and long backs. At nine, he's likely to have some stiffness and arthritis too which could make it even harder.

Personally, I would just focus on getting him stay on his bed, the specific position really doesn't matter at this stage.

I'd reward the behaviour every time you see him do it. So he's settling on his bed: good boy down! And a little treat between his paws. (Ensure he doesn't have to get up, for it.)
After a few times, I'd ask for a down on the bed... Once that works try in other places.

It's definitely the long way round, but if your doggy is clever, he should get it.
Key here is, reward the behaviour you want, when it naturally occurs!

I was going to say what @Ylvamoon said. I'd be inclined to add a hand signal to the word 'down' - a lot of dogs seem to find hand signals easier to learn than words.

Really helpful stuff thank you all - yes re hand signals @EdithStourton, he often does find these easier and a friend says its great to have both in case they go deaf.

Thank you @Borntorunfast - I've started doing this today and he's already stayed longer on his bed than he has before! I think they fact he's got quite good at "stay" when we are out and about might help. So yes, pile of snacks and lots of patience to hand. I love your step by step description. That's what Im going to use as my guide.

Thanks @coffeesaveslives good advice - I think he is quite happy in the position but I'll check this out - Lots of people still think he is a puppy he is so agile ... definitely since we put him on raw food 4 years ago.

@Ylvamoon I rather like this ... Im going to explore this approach. And yes, my aim needs to improve as sometimes the treat does need him to stretch for it - It'll be good practice for me too!!

@loveyouradvice yes, he may be absolutely fine but always worth considering with older dogs :)

I agree with those saying if you see him doing naturally, then you need to try and capture the behaviour and reward it that way. I found with mine that he would sit/stay really well, but laying down and settling took much longer - eventually the gaps between being told "stay" and being rewarded got so long that he lay down anyway, haha.

Love that @coffeesaveslives !!