How to Teach Your Boxer to Lie Down

The basic position changes of sit, down and stand are good skills for any dog to know. Puppies can begin learning these position changes as young as 7 weeks. The puppy can move into the down from either a sit or stand position.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Teach Down From a Sit

1. Place the puppy in a sit. If the puppy already knows the sit command, give the command. Otherwise guide the puppy into a sit using a treat.

2. Guide the puppy's nose toward the ground using the treat as a lure. Maintain the luring behavior until the puppy lowers her front end into a lying down position.

3. Praise the puppy when she is lying down all the way, and give her the treat. Repeat these steps until the puppy is going down smoothly and consistently with the hand and food lure.

4. Add a command word. When the puppy is going down smoothly, begin to say "down" just as you can see the puppy about to lie down. This will condition the puppy to lie down upon hearing the command.

Teach Down From a Stand

5. Place your puppy in a standing position. Lure the puppy into the stand with the treat in front of its nose, or gently lift the hindquarters to stand the puppy.

6. Guide the puppy's nose back and down between the front paws using a treat in front of her nose. The back and down motion will push the puppy to fold back into a down position.

7. Praise the puppy when she reaches the down position and then give her the treat.

Teach the Puppy to Go Over on 1 Hip

8. Place the puppy in a down position from either the stand or the sit.

9. Guide the puppy's head around to her right or left using a treat in front of her nose. The curving motion of her body will cause her to rock over on her hip.

10. Praise the puppy as she rocks over on her hip, and then give her the treat.

11. Add a command such as "side" or "hip" when the puppy begins to rock over onto her hip smoothly and consistently in response to the lure.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient. It may take several tries before the puppy begins to understand the cues. Wait for the puppy to figure it out.
• Different techniques work better for different puppies. Some may learn the down better from the sit than the stand, or vice versa.
• Avoid adding a command word too early. Establish the desired behavior before putting a word on it. A command given too early in training before the behavior is established becomes nonsense noise that the dog learns to ignore.