Astrid just started her CGC training so I will be doing more practice then ever with her out on her daily walks. Astrid’s weakest command is ‘down’. She will do it most times. It’s the times she just looks off in the distance and turns a deaf ear that I need help with. In my neighborhood, the houses are very close and the opportunity to be observed is very good. I feel silly ‘begging’ Astrid to down, but at the same time, I don’t feel I can give in to her refusal and move on. When turning a deaf ear, she will sometimes respond to a sterner tone of voice, but I don’t want to ever give the impression that she is obstinate and/or unresponsive, either. Am I overdoing it by always insisting on getting the exact behavior I’m asking for? What do you do when your dog turns a deaf ear in public?

Always be patient and make it fun. When he first arrived, Jack liked to re-enact wrestle-mania on the bed ~ at 3am. This worked for the “settle” command. When I would see him going into calm/settle mode, I’d say, “gooood settle”!

When you see her starting to lie down at home, say, “goooood down”. Keep a high value treat (cheese? chicken?) for when she does “down” on your first request, in public.

Another thing that helped us was the “watch me” command.

when sancho and dixie were in cgc classes if they didn’t do the command we would start over again. starting with watch,heel, stop and sit, then liedown. always with treatbag on side for quick reward. like you i did a lot of training on walks and stuck to the routine we did in classes. lots of patience and consistancy. good luck

I can’t believe I had totally forgotten the ‘watch me’ command that we learned back in basic when we first got Astrid. She sure remembered it! Since being reminded of it, and starting to use it again, I think she has improved with the number of times she ‘downs’ the first time asked. I always seem to do the same ol’, same ol’ and the instructor suggested I mix it up a little. All of our walking is done on the sidewalk or in the blacktop street. I’m starting to step off the sidewalk and into the grassy areas for some of the sit-down-stays, and Astrid is really doing well. Thanks for the hints and reminders, Tina, Sancho and Dixie!

you are very welcome astrid and mom. do you know one of the owners at the dogschool had 10 dogs! all were so well trained she took turns bringing different ones to use in class. she told us a story about one of her pack spotting a squirrel and taking off, she ran down to the road and screamed’‘watch’’ dog stops looks back and she calls him to come. that lady was one alpha female!