3 Great Reasons To Teach The Down Exercise To Your Dog

Here are 3 great reasons to teach your dog the down exercise. To start with the down exercise is probably the most important thing you can teach your pet. I always tell my clients that when your dog is 20 feet away and you give the dog command it should drop to the ground without you having to do anything else. No treat, no nothing. When your dog does that your dog is acknowledging that you are the master.

Let me start off by saying of the down command is probably the hardest exercise for any dog to do. Big dog, little dog, old dog, and young dog it simply is the hardest exercise. Now when I say hard I don't mean physically difficult I mean mentally difficult. That is because the dog does not want to submit to you and do the down exercise. In fact a dog in the down position in the wild would be subject to attack by other wild animals. However it's one of the most important exercises there is.

Safety

The down command can save your dog's life. Let me be a picture here in the front yard with your dog and it's not on leash. It spots squirrel on the other side of the street and there goes your dog. However before it reaches the street you give the down command and your dog drops to the ground saving its life from that speeding car. Yes every dog should a great down.

One simple word can stop your pet in his or her tracks before something dangerous or disastrous happens. Many owners fail to recognize this potential of teaching their pets behavior but it's as simple as the command, 'down'.

Aggression

A lot of things have been written about aggression and in several of those things they talk about the down command. They mentioned that if the dog had been taught the dog command as young dog you would have probably never seen that aggression. It makes sense because the dog has learned to respect the master from the very beginning.

When we are rehabilitating aggressive dogs the down exercise is quite often one of the main exercises we work on to establish the trainer as the alpha.

Behavior Issues

Some dogs are more challenging to train than others. However by starting with simple commands such as the sit, stand and down an owner can help to train their dog and stop future bad behaviors.

Taking the time to train your pet the down command has many great benefits. Remember that having a well-trained dog is part of the owner's responsibility.