07 Čvn Staying Put is Hard Work

Down under distraction probably won’t be winning any popularity contests among the usual exercises. I don’t know about you, but I have to somewhat force myself to train it. It’s boring, Archer doesn’t like it either, and we generally would both much rather heel or jump or do most anything else. Unfortunately, down under distraction is a crucial exercise and is part of virtually every trial in some form or another, and it becomes even more important when you want to compete or get to the point where it can be the very first exercise.

The rules can differ from country to country, but at most trials, you’ll have the obedience routine first, and then you have down under distraction. However, in competitions, you report in pairs alongside another handler, and one of you does the routine while the other downs, then you switch.

It’s a whole different scenario to have your dog watch some other dog doing the exercises he loves so much before he gets to do them himself. “That should be me! I am going to get you!” is not an entirely unlikely response from some dogs.

Dogs Who Hate Not Doing Anything

So, yeah, down under distraction is a pain in the ass, but we do have to train it, and it better be good if we want to get anywhere. Now, generally speaking, it’s the more energetic and high-drive dogs who have a problem with down under distraction. Those more on the lazy side are usually glad they can lie down for a bit and don’t cause many problems.

Those temperamental crazies—like my Arch, for example—are a whole different story: “Wasting a precious second not doing anything? Not running around, not working? Well, that’s out of the question! And you are trying to tell me it’s not a second, it’s like eight minutes? Ten minutes? Or, dog forbid, even more?! Are you crazy?!”

With that, he zooms off into the distance, running around the globe in like five seconds and coming back, ready to get his ball for the awesome performance. So yeah, with dogs like that, down under distraction is a real problem. They want to work, they need to work, and they don’t want to just lie down.

Herein lies the key to this exercise. If you force your high-drive dog—and I don’t necessarily mean like physically force, just trying to make him—not to do anything for a couple of minutes, he will hate that. He might be able to do it, but your down under distraction will be unreliable and unstable.

A much better approach is to teach him and then demand from him that he work his ass off during those couple minutes while lying down. No slacking off, no sir! You have to be at your A-game to master all the work you have to do in this exercise.

That’s something completely different, of course. Now, it’s not just boredom. Now, it’s serious work, something this kind of dog loves.

Give Your Dog a Job to Do

The question with this issue is what exactly can the dog be working on while lying down? What job can you offer him? He has to stay more or less motionless and not moving, so what can he do? The answer is to have him concentrate.

Concentration for a dog is hard work, and anyone who has made the journey from one-second-attention-span-puppy to able-to-do-whole-obedience-routine-adult-dog knows that very well. So why not demand concentration from your dog while he is lying during down under distraction? Give him this hard job and see him forget being bored.

I sometimes see handlers demanding concentration from their dogs but doing it very wrong. They try to correct their dog when he looks away, shouting, “Hey, I am over here!” or stepping towards the dog, stomping, or (even worse) trying to lure the dog into looking at them with treats or his ball. That rarely works, and the dog has no real reason to be looking at you. And, as I have written before, you should never just make your dog do something; let him figure out he wants to do it himself.

You have to figure out how to make it so that he wants to look at you—not because you want it but because it makes sense to him. The way to do this is pretty easy: show him that looking at you grants him his reward, whether it be his beloved ball or maybe some treats. How can you do that, though?

Visual Marker Cues — Level One

Using operant conditioning and some sort of bridging stimulus is pretty standard today in obedience. Many people use clickers or some marker words to precisely mark when the dog is getting his reward. This is a simplified view, of course, but enough for the purpose of this article.

The problem here is that if the dog is expecting some auditory cue (marker word, clicker sound) to get his reward, he can let his attention wander wherever in the meantime. Looking at the sky or at the other dog or sniffing the ground, he will still be able to hear the sound and know he can go get his reward.

So, instead, use a visual cue as the marker for your dog—something he has to see, not hear, that signifies he can get up and get his reward. Now, the tables are turned. Now, he wants to watch you. He wants to concentrate on you. And it’s because he wants to see the movement that grants his reward.

I usually use a quick squat holding out my hand with the ball or a treat for the dog to grab as the marker. You can use any kind of movement, just make sure it is a big movement and something the dog can’t mistake for anything else. Raise both arms to your sides or over your head, do a jumping jack, whatever. Just make sure it is something significant.

If it’s a small movement, like simply moving your hand upward from at your side, the dog could mistake other similar motions as the cue like when you wipe the sweat off your forehead at the trial, and run to get his reward.

Teach him that once you squat (or do whatever move you chose), he can come running and grab his reward. Make sure you don’t make any sound while you do the movement. The dog has to see it.

I consider this “level one.” The dog now has his own reason for why looking at you is a good idea; and for some dogs, this is enough. You get nice concentration, and the dog has a feeling that he is working, and you are fine. However, this is often not enough, and that’s where level two comes in.

Trick Your Dog — Level Two

After your dog has a really good grasp of level one, start tricking him. Only pretend to go into a squat. Do a half squat, or just jump up quickly. Do any kind of sudden movement that your dog could mistake for his marker movement. If he makes a mistake and gets up, thinking that he earned his reward, you don’t give him anything and simply lead him back to where he was lying down. This is level two.

Not only has the dog got to be watching you for his marker movement, but he also has to concentrate and discern if it’s really the actual one or if you are just trying to trick him. For many dogs, this is quite enough. They concentrate intently and are not bored at all in their down under distraction. But for those of whom this is still not enough (I am looking at you, Archer!), we have level three.

Add Motivation — Level Three

In level three, you will teach your dog that seeing you in a squat is not enough. He has to see you actually squatting to get the reward. What does that mean? If he makes a mistake and looks away from you, you immediately squat. As he looks back, he sees you in a squat and dashes excited to get his ball only to be disappointed. Sorry, buddy, you got to see me perform the movement.

It may take a while before your dog understands this; but once he does, boy, he won’t want to look away. He wants you to move so he can get his reward (level one); he knows you will try to trick him, and he wants to correctly discern the right movement (level two); and he knows that somehow he is so unlucky that when he looks away, even for just a few seconds, he will miss the squat and his reward (level three).

In this way, your dog will have a really good reason to concentrate on you. He won’t be watching the other dog perform his beloved exercises, and the odds of him standing up are much smaller. He will also feel like he has a job to do, so he won’t be bored and he won’t despise down under distraction as he did before.

Another benefit of this is during a competition when you are the unfortunate one who has to down your dog first and then go perform your obedience routine. If you would be “forcing” your dog to not do anything for an extended period of time, it may be difficult for him to get into work mode again. Being bored for ten minutes is not exactly the foundation of a good work ethic during obedience.

If, instead, your dog was working during the down under distraction, he will just continue working with you through the obedience part. It will make much more sense to him, again, especially if you have a high-drive dog.

In the beginning, I said this method was good for high-drive dogs, but that doesn’t mean a “normal” dog can’t still benefit from it. Just try it out, and you will see how much more stable your dog’s down under distřaction can get.

As per usual, this isn’t rocket science. It’s just some common sense and trying to make it so that the dog has a reason to do what we want from him. Please be mindful, use smart training methods, and don’t force your dogs to do anything. It is just not necessary.