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One of the most valuable and important obedient command you can teach your dog is the Emergency down. This will most likely save your dogs life, keep a human from getting hurt or keep him from being lost. It is a simple extension of the down. The whole purpose of this exercise is to teach your dog no matter what he must drop now, not five feet, or three feet, but now. It takes time and lots of practice but this can be taught to where you’re safely sure of your dog’s reaction to your command. First of all you will start your dog off with his down commands. I prefer the down with the foot on the leash to make sure your dog is going into a down as soon as you say it. Your dog will be on your left side in a sit position, you will say down just as your lifting your left foot to put it on the leash where the clip attaches to the collar to the dog, or shortly close to it. This does take coordination so please be careful not to fall over. Your standing there giving the command to down, you do not wait for your dog to react to your command longer than it takes for you to put your foot on to the leash. Like I have said this is an instant reaction to your command and to drop your dog like a rock. As soon as he hits the ground your to wait a few seconds and then release your dog, with a OK and praise. Praise your dog with voice, treat and some good body rubs and pats. The faster your dog goes down the better the praise. So now he is doing rather well dropping to the ground on your command. He is not arguing or taking his own sweet time with it. He is doing really well, now is the time to do this on the walking part of your heeling program. Just like with the heel- sit, heel- sit. This is supposed to be a very quick exercise, but can be tedious if not done right or too long, I would only do about three repetitions at the most doing this form of the down. You can throw it in, any time you want on your obedience routine, but try not to over do it. So you’re walking along, and your going to do the down on heel. You will be walking at least 10 steps and say down to the dog. You will start to lift your leg; this motion should communicate to your dog to down. If not go ahead and place you’re left foot on to the leash as close to the clip as possible. Praise as before and continue on with your heeling. Again go forward and after about 10 feet or more again give the command. Praise as before trying to make this a really fun exercise for the dog. Now is the time to go to the running and down, same as before but now your running along side your dog and you give the command to down. You will place your left hand on top of his shoulder to help him to down as fast as possible. As soon as he does this, you will get as excited or animated as possible! This is exactly what you’re wanting from your dog. Now I would have a person help you with the next exercise, as this is time to start proofing your dog with this command. Your running along and you have a person throw or roll a favorite toy, tennis ball or soccer ball right in front on you. As soon as your dog sees the toy you will tell the dog to down and make him go down. I want you to make a really big thing with the dog. He must understand how great he is for completing this exercise. As soon as he is going down every time, then we can progress on to a harder down but it is the final proofing stage for the dog. Now you’re going to have him away from you in a play situation such as fetching the ball. I would have a two foot leash or line on the dog for quick corrections if need be. Have your dog ready to play and throw the ball several times to get him excited and not expecting anything. Now the next time your going to throw the ball be ready, you are pretty sure he will not stop or down right away so be prepared for his non-obeying. So you throw the ball, as he starts after it, Yell in a very firm loud voice Down at the same time grab his leash or line and put him into a down. He will be very confused but reassure him that he is a good boy. After he is in a down position release him, to go after the ball with an OK. Again throw the ball and let him go after it several times. Again set the dog up as before. He should be getting the idea real quick now and be going into a down rather quickly. If not you may have to take a few steps back and put a longer line on him and be prepared to correct him for not going down as soon as you say it. Now this is a very physical exercise and you must be ready and willing to run along side him as best you can. So you can make him go into a down as soon as you tell him to. Now when he is doing rather well at this, start having him do this while he is returning the ball to you. Again lots of praise and excitement for the dog. As soon as he is doing this really well, you can add two dogs to the equation to get the degree of difficulty to produce a more reliable dog on this command. You may have to set him up in strange and unpredictable situations to have a very reliable dog in any situation that can happen. You may have to go so far as to have him tethered to a post, tree or a very strong person to be able to stop him in his tracks to make sure he stops, downs on command. But as the trainer it is your job to be right next to him to place him rather quickly into that down shortly after you tell him to do so. WARNING, ALWAYS HAVE A FLAT AND WIDE AS POSSIBLE COLLAR ON THE DOG, FOR HIS PROTECTION OF HIS NECK. NO CHOKES, PRONGS OR HALTIS ON THIS EXERCISE. BUT EVEN BETTER HAVE A HALTER ON HIS BODY FOR LESS DAMAGE TO HIS NECK. If you fail to not use a flat or wide as possible collar on your dog while your stopping him dead in his tracks you could injure him seriously Again in order to have a dog that downs every time you must practice!!!!!! Practice this in order to have a reliable down every time! NO matter what! Because this is a life saving command. MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE LIKE A GSD.
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