Fold-Back Down: Another Use of Props to Teach Body Mechanics (Patreon)

Dogs have to learn how their body works. I find so many dogs, that without focused training, have very little understanding of how their body functions in space behind their front legs.

In this short video I'm working with Whip to teach the fold-back down. The fold back down is where all feet remain stationary and the body moves from standing to down. This is a difficult move, as it takes much more core muscle than the traditional down which typically includes the dog sitting and then walking forward/letting gravity collapse them into the down. 

I use the piece of yoga foam to keep her front feet planted (she understands a front foot target), and the Cato board to keep her body aligned and within a confined space (alternatively you could put them between a couch and a wall as a barrier). Using the props help her do the thing I'm asking of her by taking away other options like tilting to the side, moving feet etc. This goes along with "training smarter, not harder" (good lazy training!). Once she masters the physical mechanics of this maneuver, I can fade the props. 

If you want to teach a front foot target, check out this video: https://youtu.be/cvg5xe1zyEo

My biggest challenge here is that the hand and body cue here looks exactly the same as the way I taught a bow (you can see her reluctance to put the back end down in the video because I've reinforced keeping it up for 6 years!). I'm hoping the prop will also help with a differentiation for her; she is used to this lure/physical prompt being used to signal a "bow" behavior. By showing her a different picture with the use of props, I'm hoping she will connect that we are doing something different with her body here. 

A couple notes: there is no real reason to train this except that I want to. It is nice for your dog to not move forward at all when next to you and asking for a down, but really it has more competition and fitness applications than anything else. 

Once it is trained, it will not be called down. Because the specifics of this move are different than a down (in which she can get to the ground however she wants to, and I generally like a tipped hip), I will likely call it Platz which is German for down. The body mechanics are different and I want to be specific. This is similar to me using the cue "with me" for walking somewhere in the vicinity of next to me, and building a Fuss (foos) or tight heel which means you need to be tight to me, head up, in line with my leg (which is not something we have yet - still working with Whip's body mechanics and general lower head position preference). 

So, if you want to nerd-out on a different variation on the down, try this one lol! 

And if you need to teach a general down, here is a tutorial: https://youtu.be/JZ9qmarlyyA

Happy Training!