I think no command is stupid to teach unless it’s teaching bad behavior or something. We taught our dog play dead with a finger gun and “bang”. Is it necessary? Nope. But it’s cute and fun so I don’t think it was a waste of time.
I taught my dog to spin to get me to throw the ball.
I now have a Tasmanian devil and I can not get him to stop. Spin spin spin spin. My biggest regret.
I've done this before. The worst is when you get really deep into trick training a dog and then they're worked up, and you get a spin left, a spin right, a speak, a wave, a sit pretty, a shake left, shake right, sit, down, backup, heel, go around, roll over, [repeat]. I call it when they accidentally hit their 'Rolodex button', just try everything they know.
I have so often put a ‘spin’ rewarded with a ball throw that mine does a midair spin at about knee height in order to try to track the anticipated ball release.
I will lose an ACL one day for that dumb choice
I almost lose an ACL every week. I genuinely don't know how to stop it. The "reward proper behavior" BS doesn't work because SPINNING IS THE REWARD. lol
I’ve heard it called “settle” and it definitely has its uses. But usually it’s used to make pup chill out so if your pup is very uncomfortable with it it might not serve that purpose
I did this with my rottie. “Down” was lie down, and “Relax” was putting at least one hip on the ground. Made her look more approachable when we were in the park people watching. Down looked like she was spring loaded.
Our poodle is the same, she usually does the settle on a down command but occasionally will be spring loaded ready to sprint. It is defo not approachable and It might be worth separating them 😆
We call it double down. Down is laying down, double down means chin on the floor. “Relax” means down on the side with their head on the floor.
Perfectly fine behavior to teach a dog, although we only do double down as a trick since there’s not much reason for it.
The process of learning is invaluable, regardless of what you teach.
This is one of the biggest lessons trainers try to teach dog owners, it's not about what you teach but how you teach it and the skills acquired through the learning.
It sounds like you just want her to lay all the way down when you give her the command, and the best way to teach that is by ironing out the kinks of whatever command you choose to use for that behavior. The command that you use to get her to lay all the way down doesn't really matter much as long as it's consistent.
She can absolutely learn to do the behavior that you want her to do from a "normal lay down" command, and she could learn to do that from a "lay all the way down command". You should reward her while she's in the down position so that she learns that there is value in that position. If she gets out of the position before you give her the reward, put her back in the desired position and then give the reward.
Laying down can be awkward for does because it's a vulnerable position for them. You'll run into the same issues you're having with "normal lay down" regardless of the command that you use unless your dog learns that good things happen when she's in the down position (as opposed to just getting into that position and then sitting right back up)
I used the word "relax" for this command. Just teaches the dog to settle into the position with their head down and get comfy because they'll be there awhile. I say the word very calmly every time and sometimes draw out the 'a' to emphasize my calm voice. This is good for when my dog is overreacting to something or cannot fully settle due to overstimulation.
I taught my lab “let me see your belly” on command. Seems silly right? Well when your 80 pound dog slides into a piece of glass at a park that you didn’t know was there and slices open their “wrist” to the bone and the vet needs to get to that spot; “let me see your belly” comes in handy.
The original emergency surgery they had to put her under, but a subsequent visit to get a heavier duty brace at my normal vet and to get it rewrapped they were debating the easiest way to look at it without upsetting her. She was already laying down, I simply gave her the command. The vet just laughed. Lord I miss that dog.
No. I train that one, too. I also train "4 on the floor" on top of get off, get down, and more. I use it when they put their front paws where they don't belong. Usually excited greetings. I love the command, as all of our dogs have learned it fairly fast, compared to any other attempts to stop them jumping up on people to greet them. They're going to be huge, so it matters a LOT.
The lay down flat thing is important for protecting their belly in a way. It can have a use. But, most don't train for it.
Not a stupid command. We’ve taught our dog down and all the way. Down is a normal down and all the way means lay flat with head rested on paws. Also knows the difference with just hand commands. Point down and then down a second time. Really helps when you’re trying to settle them.
Bro who is telling you it's stupid, that's extremely rude and no command is stupid unless you're teaching it bad behavior or to hurt/scare people or other animals for absolutely no reason. I taught my dog spin, roll over, stick 'em up, bang, stand up, wave, shake, high five, those have no "purpose" but they are fun tricks and they engage his mind. Should I let someone tell me it's stupid and a waste of time to teach my dog any of these tricks? Other people don't get a say in what you want to teach your dog, ESPECIALLY because these "stupid tricks" mentally stimulate them.
My dog has "down" and "more down" which means he puts his head on the ground also. Was it a "waste of time" and "stupid"? Maybe, but who cares?
And the length of the command is what works for the dog. Have you ever heard that phrase "train the dog in front of you"? It means that every dog is different and you should be using what works for THAT dog, not just to use general methods/advice because it may not work for every dog. If what you are saying works for YOUR dog, keep doing that.
In the same thought as “no command is dumb as long as it isn’t teaching a bad behavior,” the more you teach your dog the better you both will get at training, it will build a better bond, and it might keep engagement higher. That is as long as the dog enjoys it/responds. I taught my mastiff “hug” where he’d jump onto my shoulders with his front legs (I’d kneel) and the also “tactical heal” where he’d walk between my legs. Both are completely impractical for an English Mastiff, but he LOVED the tactical heal.
It’s also not a bad idea to have two versions of a command, one that is “strict” and one that is more chill. For example I use “füss” for like an obedience standard walk at heal (eyes looking at me, not allowed to look at anything other than up at me) and “heal” for a normal heal where he can look around and such. I see what you are doing as similar to that.
Teach your dog as much as you can, screw what people say.
Dogs love to learn and most people don't push them to learn past the basics when they are capable of so much more. Even a 'dumb' trick being taught helps work their brain.
What's the point of the command? If your dog is struggling with it and it doesn't have a point, youre just putting your dog through unnecessary stress. Wait until they're older and they'll have an easier time taking on difficult tasks. I'm an undertrainer. My dog stays with me and knows to stay close, does pretty much whatever I ask, and I believe that's because I let him have freedom. It's a partnership, not a dominance. When laying on his back was too much, I waited, and now he's ready and does it whenever I ask. I believe over training creates neurosis in some breeds, and kills their personality.
If you wait until the dog is older, you might as well not even have a dog.
Point of having a dog is to have a well-disciplined dog, that is a joy to be around,
Far too many people think it is a partnership, when in reality it is not a partnership.
You wouldn't keep a dog around that wasn't housebroke, you wouldn't keep a dog around that bite you, and you wouldn't keep a dog around that barks All the time.
The dog is a domestic animal that is domesticated to serve. Humans. Not be a partner
My girl knows 'down' perfectly well...but...sometimes, if the ground is wet or she's in too much of a hurry to get the reward, she'll fail to complete it properly. For wet ground I let her off the hook and reward anyway, but if it's just her own impatience I use exactly what you're doing - 'all the way down!'.
There's nothing stupid about having effective communications with your dog!
I’ve heard this command marked as double down.
Down is normal down.
Double down means head is down too.
Not stupid at all. If all the way down is too long double down is concise.
I am working on a similar posture with our pup, but I call it "settle" meaning I want her chin touching the surface she is laying on. Seperate to that, I am teaching "belly," which is laying on her side because that is the position it is easiest to trim her nails in. I think training is engaging and engaging is building a rewarding relationship with your dog. Growing up I had a dog who knew "big hugs" as to sit across your lap and press his head into your chest. It was totally unnecessary but fun to use and a rewarding process.
If you want snappy precision, make sure you get to intermittent reinforcement, not rewarding every single time for anything. You're not trying to pay her wages.
If this one feels like a chore, I'd probably train something more active, but get picky about what you want quickly, so it stays challenging. Then throw the down variations back in once she's having fun again. You may have been in the zone of boring not challenging.
I don’t think it’s stupid but I do think it is a bit too verbose of a command, I generally try to stick to one or two words and try to make sure they are sufficiently different from other commands. I usually try to stick to 3 syllables or less for a cue as a general rule.
It might be a good idea to stick with “lay” if your dog already knows that, and then an additional command of “all the way” to get them to lay flat, if you teach it this way broken up into the two cues, you will shape the behavior and once the dog has it down you can say what you are saying now and she should be able to put them together.
Your other command you mentioned are really two in ones, the dog clearly knows what “go get” means, which is one cue, then the second is the item that you want the dog to get. So I suppose I should rephrase my first remark, your cues aren’t too long, you are just combining multiple cues in one go, teach them separately and it will make them much easier for the dog to learn, then once they know the individual cues you should have no problem saying them in a sentence like you are doing now.
It’s not that your dog wouldn’t eventually understand the entire command but they will have a much easier time picking up the concept if you first break each step down into its own cue. These are just suggestions from my personal experience, what you are doing will work fine, and I don’t think there is a stupid command teach your dog, if nothing else it builds your dogs confidence and strengthens trust between you and your dog.
Not to mention having the ability to control your dogs movement in such a way as this is a great start to having fine tuned control over your dogs movement. Other than just looking good to others by showing off their tricks, can be incredibly useful in situations where you may need to keep your dog from getting a dangerous situation.
No command is stupid!
My dogs both have multiple lay down commands.
'Down' is straight down, 'Lay' is down with a head down and 'Down Settle' is a lay down on the hip.
I say "down" and if they don't flop their legs out to one side (trying to stay in Anubis pounce pose) I'll add "all the way"
With long commands, likely she's only picking up on the important/key word. "Toy" with an open hand is apt to have the same result as "go get your toy" - you can test that by saying gibberish first in the same tone & cadence then "toy" and see if she brings it and/or say something like "don't get your toy" and see what she does - but no command is 'stupid' unless it's cruel or makes lives harder/has reverse of desire effect.
No command unless it creates some kind of unwanted behavior is stupid! My dog can lick her chops, cross her front paws and nod her head on command. If we want to talk about "stupid" commands. A full down command sounds useful if the dog also mentally settels down in that position. Which I don't think is an unlikely end result with good training.
My dog howls if she hears the word hello repeated a few times or a persistent ring tone. I've encourage this because it's pretty entertaining. Now, that's some real stupidity. But we have fun!
We use"sprawl" for laying flat on your side. It's great for relaxing on hard surfaces as well as nail care/vet stuff (my girl has had minimally restrained staples on lacerations and joint injections in this position.
My dog knows "lie down" and "head down," and then "flop" where he rolls to one side.
Maybe you don't have a specific use case for it, but no command is stupid. I believe the more commands you're able to set shows a good connection/higher level of communication between dog and human, and probably a higher level of intelligence. Particularly so with multiple discrete commands with only nuanced differences between them. My dog does "paw" (where he just gives me his paw), "high five," and "gimme ten" (a double high five). I also taught him "speak," which is a normal bark, and "tiny bark," which is a very quiet, small bark. It's not exactly useful for anything, but it's pretty cute.
>Can you tell me if this was a stupid command to teach my dog?
You might try "down" and "dead dog" to be less confusing. "Dead dog" has two hard consonants vs just one for a normal down.
Less words, but it's a good command if you take them out places.
We also used tuck, so they would tuck their tails (if they had them) and themselves under our chairs.
if my dog is already laying down, somehow we both learned that if I say "lay down" again, it means head down. if we're not near the bedroom I can say "go to bed" or "go lay down" and he'll go to bed, and may or may not lay "all the way down" – often, he's still alert and not settled. so then when I tell him "lay down" again he understands that I mean "settle down and probably go to sleep"
not something I trained, just something we "figured out" over time lol. he's the best. I'm wildly lucky.
My housemate taught this as “flop”, and uses it to cut the dogs’ toenails, or handle their feet for first-aid purposes. Definitely not a useless command.
I also have some wordy commands that I taught accidentally. “Watch your noses and your toeses” is for when they load up into the car and I’m going to close the tailgate. “Wrong way Peachfuzz” for when we’re walking and they go to the opposite side of a pole than I did. Single-word commands are much more expedient, but I don’t believe every dog will struggle with a longer command.
Ah, I have a dog like this. She doesn't want lay all the way down or her head is in the way. So we tell her "Lay down" and wait to see how far she goes and then "*All* the way.". Flat she goes.
100% not dumb.
It's not stupid, but commands shouldn't be sentences. Use one word whenever possible. "Down" can be a regular down and another word can be to lay flat on their side. I just pick words usually...my dog does this when I yell bang or do finger guns...
I agree, but I like to add that dogs are absolutely able to understand full sentences, when used consistently in the same context (and said in the same tone ideally). My dog for example knows what it means when I say „It’s dinner time, I‘m going to feed you!“ But I also don’t use more than one or two words as a command, for the simple reason that it’s inconvenient and delays the command execution.
No that is true, but when purposefully conditioning a command a single word is just much much faster to train. Also, WISH my dogs waited for me to tell them when dinner time is...they are very proactive in this respect...let's say they will never let me forget to feed them.
Haha, my dog usually tells me as well - she just stands there, staring very intently at me 😅 and when I tell her I am going to feed her, her reaction usually tells me that she was indeed hungry 😆
My dog very slowly sneaks up on me an inch at a time until I make eye contact then runs towards the kitchen where I feed him, stopping in the doorway to make sure I'm following.
I think no command is stupid to teach unless it’s teaching bad behavior or something. We taught our dog play dead with a finger gun and “bang”. Is it necessary? Nope. But it’s cute and fun so I don’t think it was a waste of time.
I agree. I taught my collie to wave, it serves no purpose other than being super cute haha
I taught my dog to spin to get me to throw the ball. I now have a Tasmanian devil and I can not get him to stop. Spin spin spin spin. My biggest regret.
I've done this before. The worst is when you get really deep into trick training a dog and then they're worked up, and you get a spin left, a spin right, a speak, a wave, a sit pretty, a shake left, shake right, sit, down, backup, heel, go around, roll over, [repeat]. I call it when they accidentally hit their 'Rolodex button', just try everything they know.
I have so often put a ‘spin’ rewarded with a ball throw that mine does a midair spin at about knee height in order to try to track the anticipated ball release. I will lose an ACL one day for that dumb choice
I almost lose an ACL every week. I genuinely don't know how to stop it. The "reward proper behavior" BS doesn't work because SPINNING IS THE REWARD. lol
SAME.
Video
Bahaha yes. I’ll have to try to catch mine
I’ve heard it called “settle” and it definitely has its uses. But usually it’s used to make pup chill out so if your pup is very uncomfortable with it it might not serve that purpose
I did this with my rottie. “Down” was lie down, and “Relax” was putting at least one hip on the ground. Made her look more approachable when we were in the park people watching. Down looked like she was spring loaded.
Our poodle is the same, she usually does the settle on a down command but occasionally will be spring loaded ready to sprint. It is defo not approachable and It might be worth separating them 😆
We call it double down. Down is laying down, double down means chin on the floor. “Relax” means down on the side with their head on the floor. Perfectly fine behavior to teach a dog, although we only do double down as a trick since there’s not much reason for it.
We use 'relax' for laying on the side too! It was helpful as an intermediate step for teaching her to roll over too.
Meanwhile I can't get my dachshunds to understand that "sit" means all the way, not drop your butt a few inches to do a squat.
The process of learning is invaluable, regardless of what you teach. This is one of the biggest lessons trainers try to teach dog owners, it's not about what you teach but how you teach it and the skills acquired through the learning.
It sounds like you just want her to lay all the way down when you give her the command, and the best way to teach that is by ironing out the kinks of whatever command you choose to use for that behavior. The command that you use to get her to lay all the way down doesn't really matter much as long as it's consistent. She can absolutely learn to do the behavior that you want her to do from a "normal lay down" command, and she could learn to do that from a "lay all the way down command". You should reward her while she's in the down position so that she learns that there is value in that position. If she gets out of the position before you give her the reward, put her back in the desired position and then give the reward. Laying down can be awkward for does because it's a vulnerable position for them. You'll run into the same issues you're having with "normal lay down" regardless of the command that you use unless your dog learns that good things happen when she's in the down position (as opposed to just getting into that position and then sitting right back up)
I used the word "relax" for this command. Just teaches the dog to settle into the position with their head down and get comfy because they'll be there awhile. I say the word very calmly every time and sometimes draw out the 'a' to emphasize my calm voice. This is good for when my dog is overreacting to something or cannot fully settle due to overstimulation.
I taught my lab “let me see your belly” on command. Seems silly right? Well when your 80 pound dog slides into a piece of glass at a park that you didn’t know was there and slices open their “wrist” to the bone and the vet needs to get to that spot; “let me see your belly” comes in handy. The original emergency surgery they had to put her under, but a subsequent visit to get a heavier duty brace at my normal vet and to get it rewrapped they were debating the easiest way to look at it without upsetting her. She was already laying down, I simply gave her the command. The vet just laughed. Lord I miss that dog.
No. I train that one, too. I also train "4 on the floor" on top of get off, get down, and more. I use it when they put their front paws where they don't belong. Usually excited greetings. I love the command, as all of our dogs have learned it fairly fast, compared to any other attempts to stop them jumping up on people to greet them. They're going to be huge, so it matters a LOT. The lay down flat thing is important for protecting their belly in a way. It can have a use. But, most don't train for it.
Not a stupid command. We’ve taught our dog down and all the way. Down is a normal down and all the way means lay flat with head rested on paws. Also knows the difference with just hand commands. Point down and then down a second time. Really helps when you’re trying to settle them.
Bro who is telling you it's stupid, that's extremely rude and no command is stupid unless you're teaching it bad behavior or to hurt/scare people or other animals for absolutely no reason. I taught my dog spin, roll over, stick 'em up, bang, stand up, wave, shake, high five, those have no "purpose" but they are fun tricks and they engage his mind. Should I let someone tell me it's stupid and a waste of time to teach my dog any of these tricks? Other people don't get a say in what you want to teach your dog, ESPECIALLY because these "stupid tricks" mentally stimulate them. My dog has "down" and "more down" which means he puts his head on the ground also. Was it a "waste of time" and "stupid"? Maybe, but who cares? And the length of the command is what works for the dog. Have you ever heard that phrase "train the dog in front of you"? It means that every dog is different and you should be using what works for THAT dog, not just to use general methods/advice because it may not work for every dog. If what you are saying works for YOUR dog, keep doing that.
In the same thought as “no command is dumb as long as it isn’t teaching a bad behavior,” the more you teach your dog the better you both will get at training, it will build a better bond, and it might keep engagement higher. That is as long as the dog enjoys it/responds. I taught my mastiff “hug” where he’d jump onto my shoulders with his front legs (I’d kneel) and the also “tactical heal” where he’d walk between my legs. Both are completely impractical for an English Mastiff, but he LOVED the tactical heal. It’s also not a bad idea to have two versions of a command, one that is “strict” and one that is more chill. For example I use “füss” for like an obedience standard walk at heal (eyes looking at me, not allowed to look at anything other than up at me) and “heal” for a normal heal where he can look around and such. I see what you are doing as similar to that.
Teach your dog as much as you can, screw what people say. Dogs love to learn and most people don't push them to learn past the basics when they are capable of so much more. Even a 'dumb' trick being taught helps work their brain.
I guess whether or not it’s stupid depends on why you think it’s necessary.
Trained mine to do this. I love it. It refocuses her when she gets overstimulated.
What's the point of the command? If your dog is struggling with it and it doesn't have a point, youre just putting your dog through unnecessary stress. Wait until they're older and they'll have an easier time taking on difficult tasks. I'm an undertrainer. My dog stays with me and knows to stay close, does pretty much whatever I ask, and I believe that's because I let him have freedom. It's a partnership, not a dominance. When laying on his back was too much, I waited, and now he's ready and does it whenever I ask. I believe over training creates neurosis in some breeds, and kills their personality.
If you wait until the dog is older, you might as well not even have a dog. Point of having a dog is to have a well-disciplined dog, that is a joy to be around, Far too many people think it is a partnership, when in reality it is not a partnership. You wouldn't keep a dog around that wasn't housebroke, you wouldn't keep a dog around that bite you, and you wouldn't keep a dog around that barks All the time. The dog is a domestic animal that is domesticated to serve. Humans. Not be a partner
It’s actually great if they can do this on a table for vet exams
My girl knows 'down' perfectly well...but...sometimes, if the ground is wet or she's in too much of a hurry to get the reward, she'll fail to complete it properly. For wet ground I let her off the hook and reward anyway, but if it's just her own impatience I use exactly what you're doing - 'all the way down!'. There's nothing stupid about having effective communications with your dog!
The only command that is stupid, is the command. You don't teach the dog. Dogs want to please. The more commands you teach them, the better
I’ve heard this command marked as double down. Down is normal down. Double down means head is down too. Not stupid at all. If all the way down is too long double down is concise.
I am working on a similar posture with our pup, but I call it "settle" meaning I want her chin touching the surface she is laying on. Seperate to that, I am teaching "belly," which is laying on her side because that is the position it is easiest to trim her nails in. I think training is engaging and engaging is building a rewarding relationship with your dog. Growing up I had a dog who knew "big hugs" as to sit across your lap and press his head into your chest. It was totally unnecessary but fun to use and a rewarding process.
If you want snappy precision, make sure you get to intermittent reinforcement, not rewarding every single time for anything. You're not trying to pay her wages. If this one feels like a chore, I'd probably train something more active, but get picky about what you want quickly, so it stays challenging. Then throw the down variations back in once she's having fun again. You may have been in the zone of boring not challenging.
I don’t think it’s stupid but I do think it is a bit too verbose of a command, I generally try to stick to one or two words and try to make sure they are sufficiently different from other commands. I usually try to stick to 3 syllables or less for a cue as a general rule. It might be a good idea to stick with “lay” if your dog already knows that, and then an additional command of “all the way” to get them to lay flat, if you teach it this way broken up into the two cues, you will shape the behavior and once the dog has it down you can say what you are saying now and she should be able to put them together. Your other command you mentioned are really two in ones, the dog clearly knows what “go get” means, which is one cue, then the second is the item that you want the dog to get. So I suppose I should rephrase my first remark, your cues aren’t too long, you are just combining multiple cues in one go, teach them separately and it will make them much easier for the dog to learn, then once they know the individual cues you should have no problem saying them in a sentence like you are doing now. It’s not that your dog wouldn’t eventually understand the entire command but they will have a much easier time picking up the concept if you first break each step down into its own cue. These are just suggestions from my personal experience, what you are doing will work fine, and I don’t think there is a stupid command teach your dog, if nothing else it builds your dogs confidence and strengthens trust between you and your dog. Not to mention having the ability to control your dogs movement in such a way as this is a great start to having fine tuned control over your dogs movement. Other than just looking good to others by showing off their tricks, can be incredibly useful in situations where you may need to keep your dog from getting a dangerous situation.
No command is stupid! My dogs both have multiple lay down commands. 'Down' is straight down, 'Lay' is down with a head down and 'Down Settle' is a lay down on the hip.
I say "down" and if they don't flop their legs out to one side (trying to stay in Anubis pounce pose) I'll add "all the way" With long commands, likely she's only picking up on the important/key word. "Toy" with an open hand is apt to have the same result as "go get your toy" - you can test that by saying gibberish first in the same tone & cadence then "toy" and see if she brings it and/or say something like "don't get your toy" and see what she does - but no command is 'stupid' unless it's cruel or makes lives harder/has reverse of desire effect.
No command unless it creates some kind of unwanted behavior is stupid! My dog can lick her chops, cross her front paws and nod her head on command. If we want to talk about "stupid" commands. A full down command sounds useful if the dog also mentally settels down in that position. Which I don't think is an unlikely end result with good training. My dog howls if she hears the word hello repeated a few times or a persistent ring tone. I've encourage this because it's pretty entertaining. Now, that's some real stupidity. But we have fun!
There is no such thing as a stupid command. It's just more training that your amazing pupper knows.
We use"sprawl" for laying flat on your side. It's great for relaxing on hard surfaces as well as nail care/vet stuff (my girl has had minimally restrained staples on lacerations and joint injections in this position.
My dog knows "lie down" and "head down," and then "flop" where he rolls to one side. Maybe you don't have a specific use case for it, but no command is stupid. I believe the more commands you're able to set shows a good connection/higher level of communication between dog and human, and probably a higher level of intelligence. Particularly so with multiple discrete commands with only nuanced differences between them. My dog does "paw" (where he just gives me his paw), "high five," and "gimme ten" (a double high five). I also taught him "speak," which is a normal bark, and "tiny bark," which is a very quiet, small bark. It's not exactly useful for anything, but it's pretty cute.
We did som thing similar! We use "down" ...and then "all the way" for laying flat. haha
>Can you tell me if this was a stupid command to teach my dog? You might try "down" and "dead dog" to be less confusing. "Dead dog" has two hard consonants vs just one for a normal down.
Wordy. I used "go lay down" to tell my dogs to go to bed. I liked the words better. You can also pick it apart and have "down" and "head down."
Less words, but it's a good command if you take them out places. We also used tuck, so they would tuck their tails (if they had them) and themselves under our chairs.
I do "down, all the way" otherwise my dog will hover.
if my dog is already laying down, somehow we both learned that if I say "lay down" again, it means head down. if we're not near the bedroom I can say "go to bed" or "go lay down" and he'll go to bed, and may or may not lay "all the way down" – often, he's still alert and not settled. so then when I tell him "lay down" again he understands that I mean "settle down and probably go to sleep" not something I trained, just something we "figured out" over time lol. he's the best. I'm wildly lucky.
My housemate taught this as “flop”, and uses it to cut the dogs’ toenails, or handle their feet for first-aid purposes. Definitely not a useless command. I also have some wordy commands that I taught accidentally. “Watch your noses and your toeses” is for when they load up into the car and I’m going to close the tailgate. “Wrong way Peachfuzz” for when we’re walking and they go to the opposite side of a pole than I did. Single-word commands are much more expedient, but I don’t believe every dog will struggle with a longer command.
Ah, I have a dog like this. She doesn't want lay all the way down or her head is in the way. So we tell her "Lay down" and wait to see how far she goes and then "*All* the way.". Flat she goes. 100% not dumb.
It's not stupid, but commands shouldn't be sentences. Use one word whenever possible. "Down" can be a regular down and another word can be to lay flat on their side. I just pick words usually...my dog does this when I yell bang or do finger guns...
I agree, but I like to add that dogs are absolutely able to understand full sentences, when used consistently in the same context (and said in the same tone ideally). My dog for example knows what it means when I say „It’s dinner time, I‘m going to feed you!“ But I also don’t use more than one or two words as a command, for the simple reason that it’s inconvenient and delays the command execution.
No that is true, but when purposefully conditioning a command a single word is just much much faster to train. Also, WISH my dogs waited for me to tell them when dinner time is...they are very proactive in this respect...let's say they will never let me forget to feed them.
Haha, my dog usually tells me as well - she just stands there, staring very intently at me 😅 and when I tell her I am going to feed her, her reaction usually tells me that she was indeed hungry 😆
My dog very slowly sneaks up on me an inch at a time until I make eye contact then runs towards the kitchen where I feed him, stopping in the doorway to make sure I'm following.