Emergency Downs - Advice Please

[NZVizsla]

I did do a search but couldn't come up with anything; no doubt it has been discussed before, so if anyone can pass me the links it'd be very helpful.

I've currently got Sawyer working away from me; he's taking himself off to his mat when asked, and is also downing when asked when away from me (tied up as he's not into the distance thing )

I'd now like to teach him the Emergency Down but would like some ideas on how to.

When I've called his name and got him in motion and then asked for a down, it's almost too late, as he's either already next to me, or is returning so fast that the 'down' is not heard.

However when I've restricted the distance and momentum he gets, it doesn't seem like an emergency down, and it doesn't feel like he's learning to down straight away regardless of how excited/motivated he is to get to me.

So ANY advice would be well appreciated! ;)

[Kavik]

Can he down on voice only? That is a good first step.

Have you tried random downs for rewards when he isn't paying attention? First only a short distance away - maybe just next to you but not looking at you. Then increase the distance and do it when he is not paying attention. And either walk up to him to reward him or throw the reward to him - don't release him to you or call him to you to reward.

[corvus]

From Karen Pryor's website:

Here's one recipe for training an emergency "down":

*Train a belly-flop down with the clicker by luring two or three times and then capturing and shaping the behavior.

*If the dog has already been taught a down and the command "down" with correction-based training, you will need to establish a different behavior (flinging itself down rather than lowering itself for example) and a different cue for this behavior: "stop," or a hand signal. If you don't, the old behavior with its problems will keep creeping back in (such as inattention, distractability, slow downs, creeping, getting up again, and other avoidance-related behavior caused by correction-based training).

*Shape cue response at short distances with no latency (which means the animal does it instantly, not after a pause or delay).

*Vary the distance and duration until reliable with no latency at plus/minus 20 feet and plus/minus 10 seconds. DON'T correct errors or "reset" the dog for getting up early. (The video The How of BowWow is very clear on how to do this with the clicker.)

*Aim for fluency. Pop quiz on the behavior (test it) at different times of the day and different places. ALWAYS click and treat a correct response.

*Jackpot first responses, even if not quite perfect, under tough circumstances (in the woods; on a busy sidewalk). Use a mouthclick if you don't have a clicker handy.

*Take it on the road—literally—and see if you can get it in very high distraction settings or across a wide street.

*Now do this once in a while for the rest of the animal's life.

[flyingduster]

I know I have been doing work on fast sits at the moment, and the method I've used to good success is the 'sinking sand' game (the name coined by my trainer! lol)

The idea is that I'm standing on a rock in the middle of a pit of 'sinking sand'; you know the stuff that is solid to walk over and even stand on for a second, but stay still for longer than a few seconds you can feel it start to 'shift' under you and your feet start to sink a bit.

So I'm safe on my rock, but my dog is in sinking sand; it can't stay in one spot for more than a few seconds! Oh no!

===================

"sit"

*Paris sits in front of me*

Click & toss a treat off to the side. Quickly! Dog can't stay still for long remember!

*Paris dives after the tossed treat*

as soon as she is on the treat...

"sit"

*Paris is saying 'nom nom nom' but sits her butt, cos she knows what sit means*

click & toss the treat over the other side. Quick! Click as her butt hits the ground and toss a treat so she moves off quickly! Can't have my doggy siiiiiinkking!!!

*nom nom*

"sit!"

*plonk*

click & toss treat

etc etc etc.

===================

The idea is that it's fairly fast paced, encouraging a fast sit, but also that she is learning to sit where ever I tell her to too; she doesn't have to be close to me to get her click & treat (cos I'm tossing the treats out from me) and telling her to sit again before she has a chance to come back in to me encourages her to be able to sit anywhere around me, including behind me!

I will work in the same method for a fast drop, and I can see this being good for an emergancy drop too as I can toss the treats way off to get her running off and hopefully dropping really fast when I tell her to; even if she's still eating her food a few metres away from me....

Clear as mud?

[NZVizsla]

Thank you so much for all the ideas! I can't wait to train..