Practicing the long down

Ravenbird

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I go to a Rally class on Sundays and when it's over I put Asha on a long down while we pack stuff up. In IGP I think the shortest long down will be at least 10 minutes in BH. They are on a down stay while the next dog works their obedience routine. So on Sundays I put Asha on a down then go help pick up signs and cones and we take the stuff to the teachers car (she's the one with the walker), the other folks are picking up their chairs, going back & forth etc etc. She's staying put for a bit over 10 minutes now. I do put her on the concrete as the grass gets her wallowing & rolling, then she wants to get up & shake or worse - zoom. That'll be the next lesson...
First photo is what she looks like - usually calm & just watches the activity. She gets lots of smiles over the crossed legs. Second shows the whole picture of the environment, everyone moving around, carrying stuff etc. - I'll be trying the grass pretty soon.

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What a good girl! Phoebe would say f-u since she is lacking a lot of formal training. LOL
 
Beautiful!! Right down to the crossy paws. A good reminder I need to work on more formal obedience too. Its easy to let it slide but small training sessions and opportunities like your example are all around! I've put Ripley in a down stay in the yard, 3 wide open acres, while I set rally courses up and I'm impressed how well she does considering I have not worked on down stay for a while. Setting the foundation then letting good ol maturity kick in has really helped but I should get my butt back into gear.
 
What a good girl! Phoebe would say f-u since she is lacking a lot of formal training. LOL
What @Kaiser2016 said. LOL, it didn't happen quickly even with the formal training. I got plenty of dog versions of middle finger, lol.

Its easy to let it slide but small training sessions and opportunities like your example are all around! I've put Ripley in a down stay in the yard, 3 wide open acres, while I set rally courses up and I'm impressed how well she does considering I have not worked on down stay for a while. Setting the foundation then letting good ol maturity kick in has really helped but I should get my butt back into gear.
Yes! I just kept seeing times when I could practice a down with distractions, then did same-place/same-thing with more & more distractions and/or time. Her first breaks were when I would take a load to the car, outside that fence. I'd just set the stuff down, take her back, down her again and return to the car. Pretty soon the lightbulb came on that I would ALWAYS be back. And in the house, down in the living room, disappear into the kitchen. The out-of-sights were harder but those came around pretty quickly. But I promise, the maturity is helping! I won't take all the credit, lol..

I love the crossed paws!
Me too. :love:
 
Nice! The out-of-sight stays – one of the most stressful things for me.

Boy, Asha and Oji sure have some things in common. He's a big time paw and leg crosser. It does get appreciative comments sometimes.
 
Good Girl, Asha!!!

Rubie is, for some reason, pretty stellar at stay (although that situation would be tough!). Moo on the other hand... the anticipation of the release is just too much for him :rofl:
 
You inspired me to do a down-stay at the nearby park this morning. It was all in-sight except when I passed behind two large trees. It was nice and easy for him in that he had already run around and sniffed in the hot sun and shade. I downed him in the shade and it was easy to tell he was content laying there.
 

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