The Optional Down Stay

by Laura Harper, MSc., CPDT-KA

At Dogs in the Park we teach all our dogs a one-hour down stay. We practice our down stay in different locations and scenarios so our dogs not only learn to down and stay anywhere, but so they can relax in lots of different places and during different activities. 

The one-hour down stay is one of the most important foundational behaviours we teach, but I want to discuss a different version of the down stay - one I call the optional down stay. This certainly doesn’t replace our formal one-hour down stay, but the optional down stay can be a very valuable tool when used in the right context. 

So what is the optional down stay, and how does it differ from the more formal one-hour down stay? In our formal down stay, we ask the dog to lie down, and then stay. When our dogs are learning the down stay, we use a tether to limit their choices. Once the dog has been taught this behaviour, the expectation is the dog will stay in a down where we asked them to stay, until we release them from the down. 

Gabbie doing a down stay near her horse friends. This is not a scenario where I would use the optional down stay; there is too much risk of injury if Gabbie made a mistake.

In the optional down stay, we do things a bit differently. We don’t ask the dog for anything. In a safe environment where I can supervise the dog, I don’t use a tether. And there are no expectations. Very simply, when I’m working on an optional down stay, if the dog chooses to lie down where I want them to, they get a treat. If they do anything else, they get nothing. 

Dogs aren’t fools - once they’ve found out that something works they’re much more likely do it again. And the beauty of the optional down stay is that everything is your dog’s idea. They’ve discovered this magic answer that makes you give them treats. Now you have a dog that in absence of instruction or information, chooses to lie down and relax. This makes for a lovely polite dog! 

Gabbie and Mallow doing an optional down stay while I'm cleaning the kitchen. This is the 'Magic Spot' that produces treats when you lie there.

Another wonderful thing about the optional down stay is that because you haven’t actually asked your dog for a behaviour, there’s no reason your dog needs to stay down. Which means if you’re doing an optional down stay and your dog gets up, you don’t have to go get them and bring them back to their stay. There’s a lot less management involved. Please note: this doesn’t mean you can ignore your dog. You need to be aware of where they are in case they are getting into something they shouldn’t, and you have to be paying attention so you can reward them when they lie down in their chosen spot.

This is not a behaviour or technique meant to replace the formal one hour down stay; there are absolutely times where I need my dogs to down and STAY, no options. The optional down stay also isn’t a technique I would use in a busy or unsafe environment. But it can be a really powerful tool in the right context. 

For example, I hate having my dogs underfoot in the kitchen. I am clumsy; I trip and fall over my dogs a lot, and really don’t want to do that while I’m carrying a hot pan or boiling water. I could use my one hour down stay to teach my dogs to stay out of the kitchen, but that would involve getting them set up, managing them so they can be successful, and interrupting my cooking every time they get up to make sure they lie down where I told them to. 

Instead, I use my optional down stay. The criteria is simple: if you lie down in the dining room, you get treats. Anything else, you get nothing. Gabbie, my older girl, picked this up in about ten minutes. She went ‘Oh! This spot is magic. I will lie down here.’ Part of the reason for this is her history practicing one hour down stays. The behaviour is one she knows very well, just in a different context.

When baby Zero came along, it wasn’t long before he was participating in the optional down stay too. He saw Gabbie doing the down and getting treats and thought ‘Hey, that looks cool! Let’s try that!’ 

Gabbie and Zero doing an optional down stay while I cook. Zero is on leash but not tethered; this is simply so I can catch him more easily if he gets up to anything naughty.

He started this at about 11 weeks old. At 15 weeks he was still bursting with curiously and often got up to investigate what I was doing or sniff around the floor, but inevitably he went back to lying in the dining room and he got a treat. Now, at almost two years of age, Zero automatically goes to his spot any time I’m in the kitchen, and will stay there even if I accidentally drop food while I’m cooking.

While the optional down stay and one hour down stay are very similar and practicing one will help with the other, I have been impressed with how thoroughly all my dogs have learned the optional down stay, and how solid the behaviour has become. Cooking is a whole lot easer without dogs underfoot!