Once the puppy is proficient at being lured into a down, it is time to begin fading the lure. We’ll do that in steps. Each step will be more difficult for the puppy than the step prior. Therefore, when you move from one step to the next, initially reduce your expectations and criteria before rewarding and gradually build the criteria back up.
How to Build and Reduce Criteria When Moving Through the Steps
When you first start one of the steps, mark and reward the puppy for starting to go into the down and then use reward placement to complete the behavior. Gradually expect more from the puppy before marking the behavior. Eventually, you will not mark the behavior until the puppy completes the behavior before the mark. Once your puppy is going completely down before the mark, you won’t need to use reward placement at all. Practice having your puppy go into a down at each step until the puppy is proficient in getting into the down without reward placement.
Once that happens, you’ll move to the next step which will have an additional challenge added to it. When you add this additional challenge, you’ll need to make it easier for your puppy again by marking and rewarding for just starting towards a down. Again, you’ll gradually expect more of the puppy until he can perform at the new level of difficulty without reward placement. Move through each of the steps in the same way.
Step #1 Gradually Quit Manipulating Your Puppy Into the Down
The first step is to gradually quit putting your hand to the puppy’s mouth, gradually quit pushing into your puppy with the food and gradually stop rotating your wrist to help him get down. Gradually do away with techniques that manipulate your puppy into a down. Gradually ask your puppy to take more responsibility towards thinking about what you want from him instead of your showing him. As you are slowly taking away the help, give your puppy time to think about what is asked of him. When he offers to go down without the help he’s used to, mark and use reward placement to get him totally into the down.
If he gets stuck and won’t move, silently wait for a few seconds. If he still won’t move, chat encouragingly to him.
Gradually reduce the help you are giving until the puppy is proficient at completing the down with only an upturned hand held close to the ground and a few inches out in front of the puppy. When the puppy will go all the way down over and over again with only the upturned hand and without reward placement, it’s time to move to Step #2.
Step #2 Point to the Ground to Signal Your Puppy to Down
For this second step, hold the food in a hand that is closed around the food except for your index finger. With this index finger, you’re going to point to the ground. Hopefully, your puppy will go into a down when you point your finger to the ground. If he does, mark and reward.
If your puppy doesn’t go down and instead looks up at you trying to earn his reward by giving eye contact, avoid his gaze. Do not give eye contact. Instead, look at the ground and at your finger. Tap your finger on the ground. The sound of the tapping will usually cause the puppy to look away from you and at your finger. Tap again and see if he’ll go down. If not, briefly show him the food in your hand. Then close your hand around the food again and point and tap again. Eventually, your puppy will go down. The less you show your puppy the food, the faster he will learn.
Do not be quick to reduce criteria by showing your puppy the food. Give him time to think about what you want. Let him roam around if he needs to. If he can figure it out by himself, he will have crossed a big hurdle in training. However, you don’t want to let your puppy fail for so long that he looses interest in the game. Don’t let him roam twice before getting it right. It’s better to make it too easy than to let your puppy get overly frustrated. Let him earn his reward with a lure if necessary to keep him in the game and then try the point again.
Repeat this process of pointing, marking, and rewarding over and over until the puppy is proficient. If the puppy offers to stay in a down, alternate between practicing the down/stay and getting into a down with a point. See our chapter on the down/stay for more information.
Step #3 Pointing with the Non-food Hand to Signal Your Puppy to Down
Once your puppy is proficient at going down with a point with the same hand that holds the food, it’s time to move to step 3 in fading the lure for the down/stay. With this step, you’ll be pointing with a hand that does not hold the food and then rewarding with the opposite hand.
With some puppies, they go down the first time you point with the non-food hand. However, usually, there is a hump that the puppies must get over once they realize that the hand that you are pointing with has no food in it. In order to help the puppy get over this hump, point with both hands and gradually make the non-food hand more visible to the puppy by putting the non food hand closer to the puppy.
Point with both hands two or three times. Then try pointing with the non-food hand only. If the puppy goes down, mark and reward with the opposite hand to the pointing hand.
If the puppy doesn’t go down immediately, give the puppy a chance to think. Avoid eye contact. Look at your finger. Tap your finger on the ground. Let the puppy roam if he needs to. But again, don’t let him roam more than twice if possible. Reduce criteria and point with both fingers one more time and mark and reward this before trying to point exclusively with the non-food hand again.
Keep trying to get your puppy to go down with pointing with the non-food hand until he gets it. You may have to reduce criteria and reward your puppy for downing while you point with two hands several times.
Once your puppy does it once or twice, your puppy will have his “aha” moment and it will click in his brain. At this point, practice going down with a point of the non-food hand over and over until it is proficient.
Step #4 Raising the Signaling Hand Half Way
With step #4, you’ll begin raising your pointed finger off the ground. In Step 3, you were not only pointing to the ground, but you were touching the ground. Many puppies working at the Step 3 level will have developed a habit of touching your finger with their noses before going down. In fact, many of them will think that the mark is coming because they have touched your finger. The finger touch will have become part of the required behavior in their minds. Therefore, raising the finger past a certain point can be a difficult but necessary hurdle for puppies to cross. When the finger is raised to a certain height, the puppy will be unable to simultaneously touch the finger and go into a down. At this height, the puppy will have to make a choice.
If your puppy chooses to touch your finger without going into a down, don’t reward. Wait quietly for a few seconds. Don’t move your finger. Let him touch it over and over without reward if he chooses. Stay silent as long as the puppy is touching your finger over and over. For some puppies who are very focused on the finger, it is helpful to remove the finger from the picture altogether until you can shape the puppy into going into a down on his own. If after a few seconds of silence, your puppy stops trying anything and just sits or stands there, encourage him with up beat talk telling him anything. I’ll say “what you gonna do?”, “try something else”, “you can do it”, “show me”. Continue looking at the ground and don’t make eye contact. If he roams off, wait for him to come back to you. Try quickly tapping on the ground with the non-pointing hand to see if that will encourage the puppy to look away from the pointing finger and you. Don’t leave the finger lingering in the point towards the ground. Tap the ground and then take the finger away. The puppy needs to offer the down without the help of touching a finger.
Mark the instant your puppy looks at the ground. Finish the behavior with reward placement.
Mark for looking at the ground until the puppy performs well and repeatedly with reward placement to help him get into the down. Then begin waiting for a little bit of a down before marking and finishing the behavior with reward placement. Gradually increase criteria until the puppy is going down on his own before marking and rewarding. Do this repeatedly until the puppy is proficient.
Step #5 Raise your Finger the Rest of the Way
Practice with your finger at this height until the puppy has clear understanding, is going down quickly and confidently, and reward placement is no longer needed. Then gradually raise your finger until you are standing up straight.
As I’m raising my finger, I gradually open my hand so that my signal becomes a lowering of an open hand pointed to the ground. This is not necessary, especially if you have no plans for competitive obedience. Whatever signal you choose to use to indicate a down is fine.
Step #6 Adding a Verbal Cue
Practice the down while you stand up straight and give a physical cue until the puppy is consistent. Then you can add a verbal “down”. Say “down” at the same time that you give your physical cue. Practice the down with both the physical and verbal cue for weeks.
Then try fading the physical cue by giving the verbal cue first. Wait a second and see if the puppy goes down with just the verbal. If he doesn’t, give the physical cue. Don’t repeat the verbal cue over and over. This will teach your puppy to tune you out. If he doesn’t respond to the physical cue the first time, he doesn’t know it. Continue following the verbal with the physical cue until he starts going down with just the verbal.
