One Hour Down Stay

TOOLS:

Your dog

A six foot leash

A tether point

Four to six cups of tasty treats (variety will be important here)

A large collection of balls, toys, sponges and other distractions you can control

Your dog must know how to lie down on cue before you start this exercise.

OBJECTIVE:

To teach your dog that being in a down stay is a relaxing place to be where he can lie down, chill out and rest, but where something will happen later. 

METHOD:

Level 1

1.     Set up a tether station for your dog with treats about one metre beyond his reach when he is tethered.  Tether your dog.

2.    Cue your dog to lie down.  Without clicking, give your dog a treat.  Deliver the treat so that his nose is pointing to the ground when he takes it.

3.    Cue your dog to stay, verbally.  If you want to use a hand signal later, you can teach that at another time.  If you have a deaf dog, use a hand signal that allows you to stay in front of him when you are giving the signal.  Give the signal ONLY once.  Once you have given the signal, the dog must remember what he was doing before you gave him this signal.  Feed him a treat, immediately after you give the stay signal.

4.    Feed your dog continuously, one treat at a time, with his head pointing to the ground for about two minutes.  If your dog gets up, step back and wait.  As soon as your dog lies down, resume treating.  Do NOT recue the down or the stay. 

5.    When your dog has remained down for about two minutes, start to add actions on your part between treats.  For example, lift up one foot and put it down, and then bend over and treat.  Put up one arm and then put it down and treat.  Rock back on your heels and stand on your toes and then treat.  When your dog can stay down regardless of what you do between treats for two minutes you can move to the next step.

6.    Move one foot back as though you were going to begin walking backwards and then move it back in line with your other foot, and feed.  Repeat with your other foot until you can take a half step back and step back in and feed and your dog won’t get up.  If your dog gets up at any point, step back and wait until he lies back down and then go back one step in the process and work from there.

7.    When your dog will tolerate you stepping a half step back and in again, turn 90 degrees to one direction and come back to the front and feed.  Then repeat with the other direction.  Increase the number of degrees that you turn until you can turn all the way around in both directions and your dog will continue to stay.  As always, if your dog gets up, step back and wait until he is back in the down position, and don’t cue him; stay implies a responsibility on the dog’s part to remember what he was doing when you cued the stay and to continue to do that.  Only when he remembers what he was doing, do you go back and reinforce.

8.    When you can step back a half step and turn all the way around, you can begin to combine those actions in level 2.

Level 2

1.     At this point your dog should begin to understand that he can call you in by lying down, so now we will make things more difficult for him by moving away from him while he is lying down.  Turn away, take one step and turn back and step in and feed.  Next turn away and take two steps and turn back and return and feed.  If the dog gets up at any time, stop and wait for him to lie down before you return and feed your dog.  If your dog gets up at this point, start back at one step.

2.    Increase your number of steps away from your dog each time you leave, and return only when your dog is lying down.  If your dog gets up, stand still until he lies down, and return to start again.  Do NOT recue the down or the stay at any time.  Lying down is the dog’s way to call you back.  Standing, barking, fidgeting or other behaviours make you stop and stay away.  As you train this exercise, it is important to keep moving; movement tells the dog that he is on the right track, and staying still tells him to try something else.  This is not a formal obedience stay; that is taught as a separate behaviour.  When your dog will stay while you move thirty steps away and directly back, you can move to level 3.

Level 3

1.     Get out your distraction items.  If they are not already available to you, go to where they are kept, return to your dog and feed in the same way as before.  Then pick up the items and carry them partway into the room, put them down and return to feed.  Then take one item, lift it up, put it on the floor, return and feed.  Then take another item, lift it up, put it on the floor, return and feed.  If your dog gets up, go back to level 2, with your distraction items left where they were and work up to returning to lifting and placing the items.  As always, if your dog gets up, stop, stand still and wait for him to lie down again to call you back, and return to the last point at which your dog was successful.  When your dog is able to hold his down stay continuously for ten minutes while you go out to your distraction items and return, you are ready to increase your level of distraction.

2.    Repeat step 1, but this time, lift and drop the items.

3.    Repeat step 1, but include rolling balls and gentle tosses.

4.    Repeat step 1, but add toys that move or make noises.

5.    Repeat step 1, with a helper to play catch or Frisbee.

Level 4

1.     Repeat the entire program off leash, indoors.  If at any time the dog decides to wander, go back to tethering.

2.    Repeat the entire program in a variety of new locations.

NOTES:

 The goal of the one hour down stay is to teach your dog that he can lie quietly and relax and watch what is going on around him without engaging in it.  Never release your dog from a down into play as this will teach your dog to anticipate moving and will lead to a distracted and stressful time for the dog instead of a relaxed time.  The ability to calmly watch other dogs or dog sport or even your children playing in the yard without stressing is an important part of a dog’s ability to cope with day to day stresses, and prepares the dog to come out of the stay into work.  When releasing your dog, you should ask for a sit, and then either heel him out of the down and release or call him out of the down and release.  Down should predict that work is coming. 

 It is helpful to think of stay as a memory game.  When you say “stay” what you want the dog to do is to remember what he was doing when you told him to stay and continue to do that.  The increased distance and activities that occur between reinforcers allows you to decrease the frequency of reinforcement until you no longer need to reinforce the down stay at all; the reward for staying is the opportunity to watch interesting things and later to work.  Re-cuing the down or the stay interferes with the dog learning to remember what he was doing. 

 When dogs have learned to stay in this way they learn that in the down, they can relax and you will return in due course.  In order for the dog to learn this, you must allow him to stand up, wander around and engage in almost any other behaviour and not tell him what to do; you are teaching him that he can call you back by being relaxed.

Long duration of this exercise is important in the early stages because you will be teaching your dog that the down position is a place where he can rely on you to keep him safe, and that you will come back to him as long as he is relaxed.  Dogs who do this exercise will develop the ability to calm themselves down and stay relaxed because they are safe.  It is essential that in the down position, your dog never be teased or mistreated; your job is not only to keep your dog safe but to keep him feeling safe by protecting him when he is in his down position.