Drop

The 'Drop' command requests that your dog lay down. Often times the command 'Down' is used for this but I switched on the advice of a breeder that suggested 'Down' be used for getting off a sofa, bed, or to decease from jumping up on a person. This seemed to make sense to me and allows for differentiation between the two.

There are two ways to train this:

The way I did it with Saffy was to give the command, "Saffy! Drop!" After which, I would take her paws and pull them forward until she was in a lying position. Afterwards, I would give her a treat and pat her on the head for a job well done.

The other way is to take a treat and give the command, "Saffy! Drop!" And lower the treat to the ground until she is fully laying down, at which point give her the treat and pat her for a job well done. Unfortunately, this method did not seem to work for me but I have heard of it working for other people. You might want to try this first before trying to physically lower your dog to a laying position.

After a succession of repeating this in brief sessions of 5 to 10 times once a day Saffy soon became proficient at dropping on command. Additionally, I now often work this in to her meal routine.