Training the “Down” Command To A Dominant Dog

A dominant dog is one who becomes unsure when made to change his mood. Since his response to resistance is straightforward, he is compelled to assert himself. He'll push back when he feels the left hand on his shoulder blade and will probably growl. Since he's stressed, he won't show any interest in the food, so any type of ingestion other than a snap at your hand or the lead isn't possible.

This dog is very much misunderstood. Since he's active and direct by nature, he's run into a lot of emotional dead ends in his dealings with people, and so he interprets all change as bad, relative to humans.

Profound hunger is definitely advisable in the early stages of training. When the dog is hungry enough, he will go on the down position smoothly. Improving the contact training is important because the resistance between the dog and the owner or handler is the central issue in this dog's temperament. You want to relax your dog about the status issue and have him learn that flexibility to change is actually good.

Address the problem more directly, because sooner or later you will have to work the dog without food. But first he must learn suppleness to the touch, just as if he was a puppy. Then, when it's time to train without food, put your left foot on the lead while you hold on to it with your right hand. From here you will patiently wait. As long as the dog doesn't overload or panic, slowly increase the pressure downward on his neck.

Do not position your head close to this type of dog. That will intensify his problem and increase his need to resist. As he start to tire or think about lying down to get more comfortable, talk sweetly to him. This weakens resistance. Amplify the softening sensation by starting to scratch his top-line and his ribs.

You want him to sense that by lying down he becomes the focus of the group. You aren't trying to make yourself dominant, that would only reinforce his unsureness and reconfirm his negative assessment of humans who make him change his mood. You want instead for him to learn that becoming subordinate leads to his highest experience of flow.

When he lies down, rub his belly. It's Ok for him to roll over because he's getting the experience of flow and you want to energize him in this moment so that his top-line is positively affected. His back is absorbing positive contact with the ground, and he's associating you with such a positive drive flow; you are doing a lot to teach him that “Down” is a peaceful pathway. If his top-line becomes supple, each repetition will see him go down faster and with less resistance.

With dominant dogs, the problem is not that they're dominant but that they're brittle, yet at the same time they have a strong sense of themselves. They don't adapt well and usually like to avoid new things. Because they're brittle and change slowly due to a strong sense of place, they appear to be tough dogs, which leads to their being misinterpreted. Consequently, in training they are pushed too fast and too hard. Since they have a strong sense of their place, they inevitably have to learn to push back.