Within this series of articles I have been covering the beginning
work relative to raising a competitive working dog. The goal of our foundation
work is to raise a dog that is strong and confident, active in his drives
and highly motivated. In the previous issues I related an overview on the
type of temperament we search for in a puppy, the genetic background the
puppy should ideally possess, an overall opinion on how the puppy should
be raised and socialized, motivation of drives and teaching the sit command.
In this article we will begin teaching the down or platz command to our young
dog. The methods are similar to teaching the sit.
In Schutzhund obedience the platz command is seen three times; down
in motion, long down and downing after the send out. Our picture of a correctly
executed down is the dog dropping quickly and securely, into a sphinx like
position. Square on his front and rear. Flipping from side to side or creeping
is not desired. These as well as slow executions are common errors. Correctly
teaching the platz from the beginning can help avoid such future mistakes.
We begin with a hungry puppy and hot dogs in a quiet area free of
distraction. You will use whole hot dogs, not cut up. Place the hot dog in
your hand covering it so the puppy can not get at it. You want him to smell
the food and try to get at it. He will be allowed to eat, rewarded, as he
performs the platz. You will do that by opening your hand to let him nibble.
Don't give up the entire hot dog, just give him the chance to nibble at it
with his front teeth. Practice at first feeding and not feeding, getting
him into the idea. Keep your hand in his reach so all four feet stay on the
ground. Depending on the age of the puppy if the hand is taken away he will
soon forget about it. Get down to the dog's level, either on the floor or
your knees. Do not stand over the dog.
Keep in mind your pup has little to no attention span, does not see
well yet and cannot follow fast movements. Keep the food in front of the
dog's nose to keep attention, move your food hand slowly in your manipulation
to continue his attention. If there are other distractions or attractions
you will not have a good session. In all beginning work try to be in a quiet
area, preferably at home. As the dog matures you can move to new locations
with greater distractions to continue the training. But at this age and stage
of learning, short, simple and slow are the key words.
| A dog's body follows their nose. With the dog standing
slowly lower your closed food hand to the ground. First lower straight down
from the nose, then as his front end meets the ground, inch your food hand
slightly forward away from the puppy, keeping the hand on the ground. This
will take a little practice on your part learning how to manipulate the dog's
body with his nose. As your hand goes down softly repeat the platz command.
Say it clearly and succinctly. The command must be said for the dog to associate
it with the hand motion. Once the puppy's entire body is down, reward him
by letting him feed. Refrain from pushing the rear down yourself, rather
experiment with your food hand to get the desired position. Often, pushing
into the dog then inching out will get the butt down. It can be difficult
to get the down from a standing position initially. It is alright to begin
from a sitting position instead. But don't accept that as the only way a
dog can down. The "full body drop" is faster than downing from sitting.
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The dog will pick up on the hand motion before the voice command.
Never reward the dog for downing if you did not say platz. If the dog downs
because it was his idea or because you moved your hand without saying the
command - do not reward. Simply get him back to standing and begin again.
Once the dog is down open your hand to allow feeding. Keep your hand
in the same position so as not to make him change positions. You may repeat
"good platz" softly as the pup feeds. Time in the position is not what you're
teaching at this point. All you want is the dog to learn the connection between
the command and the body movement/position. So reward shortly then release
the dog verbally and praise him madly. And begin again.
The duration of the session depends on the dog's age. If younger
than about 15 weeks keep to three or four downs in a row and then stop. The
attention span of a puppy will not be able to handle any longer. At that
age we are 'imprinting' the command with the position. The puppy is really
too young to do much thinking or complicated learning. If the dog is older
than 15 weeks, I prefer to work until I observe some level of knowledge for
the exercise. What that knowledge is would be variable. Usually it would
be shown by the dog downing with the initial hand movement rather than the
whole shebang. The dog is expressing an early understanding of what is expected.
If you are teaching correctly this should begin to occur within 4 downs after
a few sessions. If that is not the case, the problem could be you are not
using the verbal command or are feeding at the wrong time. Or both.
Each session should begin at a point the dog knows well and progress
from there. This is true of all training. Dogs learn through repetition,
patience, consistency and firmness. As you progress begin to wean off the
hand motions until you can stand with food in your hand, tell your dog to
platz and they down immediately. Do yourself and the dog a favor by not teaching
the sit and down in the same session. Doing so will only confuse him on what
is expected. As progress is shown and we try to wean off the hand signal,
it is helpful to put your hands at your side. This way we prevent giving
body cues by accident. Try not to hold your hands in the middle of your waist,
you will never do this in trial so don't start the habit now. An excellent
plan is to keep food in both hands, at your sides and to feed alternating
hands. This prevents the dog from 'leaning' to one side or the other and
centers them. Try to not position yourself and the dog in the same alignment
every time. For example, with the dog always in front of you. Be cognoscente
of this trait and ask for the position from the sides as well.
Demand one type of position for the platz, sphinx like. If the dog
rolls onto a hip, simply and calmly roll him back. Tell him that is right
and continue on with the session. Be sure to only reward from the correct
position. If the handler gets lazy, doesn't watch for correct position, the
dog will get lazy and not show correct position. The one exception to the
sphinx position is for dogs with poor hip construction. Flip flopping around
should still not be accepted, but rolling onto one hip, for say the long
down, with a dysplastic dog is to me an acceptable compromise. A viewpoint
not founded on any medical reasoning, just simple fairness.
At this point you can start to add time onto the down. With the dog
wearing a leash and fursaver collar, tell the dog platz and stay where you
are. Begin to count in your head. Ten is a good place to start. When the
dog gets up, simply tell him platz again - preferably in the same spot -
and begin counting again. No corrections. No movements from you while counting.
The leash and collar are there only to ensure the dog will stay with you
and assist in placing him back into the down. Once you reach the count of
ten, release the dog and praise madly. No food yet. Then begin again. When
you can count to ten without the dog getting up, feed him in the down position.
Make sure he remains in that position while he feeds and then release him
with mad praise. Once you can make it to the count of ten three times in
a row that session is done. The next session you will build on the previous
one by starting with the count of ten for the first platz. Count to twenty
for the second platz. And again three times correctly in a row and done.
Once you can count to fifty with no problem you can begin to move
to different positions around him. The dog will get up when you move at first.
It helps to repeat the command prior to moving. Be patient and firm. Calmly
place him back in the down and try again. First move in front of him, then
in front to the end of the leash, progressing to his sides and going to the
end of the leash. Keep counting in your head so as not to ask for long periods
of time. I recommend starting with a count of 10. Different combinations
of time and movement should be tried. Walk to the end of the leash and tell
him "good platz". Walk to his side and tell him "good platz", count to 10
then move again. Sometimes the dog will do fine with you stationary, but
breaks when the handler moves often or infrequently.
| Once movement is not a problem progress to slight pressure forward
on his collar using the leash. This tests the dog's ability to 'stick' the
down. If you cannot knock him out of the platz with reasonable pressure you're
doing well. |
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Moving away from the dog, standing still for a while then jumping
around or some other interesting movement can also do proofing. If the dog
breaks, just put him back, give him the command again and repeat your
distraction. Be clearly pleased and excited when he works
correctly.
At this point in the teaching begin to work around distractions of
people and dogs. Always start with light distractions, such as a new location
or activity far away. Rules stay the same and you must continue to be patient,
consistent and firm. If your dog is easily distracted you will have to back
up a few steps before progressing forward again. Proofing your dog at these
final stages could include other people walking close by, standing next to
the dog, playing with a toy, eating in their vicinity, etc. Have the leash
on to keep the dog with you and to keep you from moving farther away then
is realistic. Finally we have walking away from the dog to trial distance
of 30 paces. This should just be a formality if your dog has correctly learned
all you've taught up to this point. It would be wise to have someone working
with you to tell you if your dog moves. We don't have eyes in the back of
our heads, and spotters are invaluable to correct obedience work.
Up to now we have concentrated on the manner the dog downs and learning
all the command means, except speed of execution. The motion exercises are
static and do not require drive. Because of this the dog easily becomes slow
and unimpressed. We teach speed by adding the toy to the exercise.
Tease the dog up with the toy, lots of movement and keep him from
getting it. Once jazzed up, quickly stop and tell him 'platz'. If he is slow
to the position, move once again teasing him with the toy. Again stop quickly
and tell him 'platz'. As soon as he downs release him verbally and let him
take the toy. When playing this game for the first time it takes most dogs
a little while to understand the command being given. Having never done the
exercise in this manner, that is understandable. So for the initial few tries
you may have to repeat the command to get the position. What we want the
dog to learn is that as soon as they down they get the toy. The handler being
very observant and having excellent timing accomplishes this. You must make
sure the dog is down all the way to the ground, you must be sure that they
don't get the toy from any other position. Dogs are very quick to read us
humans and they will be able to tell when you are going to release them.
The handler must be smarter, quicker and more observant then their dog for
this game to work. If you don't possess these skills it is okay, there are
different methods for quick downs. I happen to prefer this way. It is fun
and exciting in a way the motion exercises rarely are. And it can be used
in conjunction with other methods.
The progression of this game is to allow you to keep moving, give
the command while moving and the dog follows through with it as you move.
Thus leading into the visual part of the motion exercise. You are in movement
with your dog, heeling, you give the command as you are moving and the dog
obeys as you leave him. The game allows the handler to break away from the
common crutch of hesitating when giving the command. The dog will always
pick up on the hesitation.... and so will the judge. The other usual occurrence
is that the handler does hesitate in training but come trial day is doing
a good job. However the dog is used to the hesitation and without it is unsure
of the command he
was given, resulting in either hesitation or incorrect work from
the dog. Point deductions again.
We handlers can not think of the point by point break down as we
train our dogs. We would end up drill sergeants, which never results in good
obedience work. Rather we must think ahead and plan our training methods
for our end results. If we think our actions out to the end, trial, we won't
need to think about the points lost or gained while training. Very importantly
keep the tone and manner of each command the same. Dogs pick up on inflection
of the voice more than the actual word. Maintain the same inflection and
tone for the platz command through out the teaching if possible. If the dog
had been doing well and now is not, perhaps you are giving the command
differently than usual. A very overlooked element of handling is the voice.
The other ways to a quick down in motion would be to use a collar
correction, use of the hand on top of the head, double handling, etc. All
of these methods should not be brought into training until the dog is nearing
SchH I. After the B trial. We want to be sure the dog understands the exercise
and is motivated before using any method that diminishes that motivation.
If the foundation work was good to excellent it is very simple to bring the
attitude back up to normal and maintain very good to excellent execution
of the command. Taking the time to make sure the dog understands a command
will also allow the dog to understand the reason of any corrections for the
same command.
