Teach Your Dog Lie Down with Hand Signals: Easy Step-by-Step

Training your puppy to lie down is a great follow-up to teaching them to sit, as they can build on skills they’ve already learned.

What you’ll need:

• Training treat bag
• Training treats your puppy likes (stinky ones usually work best)

How to teach a puppy to lie down (with hand signals)

1. Hold a stinky treat near your puppy’s nose and cue them into a sit.
2. When they reach sit, turn your hand so your palm faces the ground. Lower the treat straight down, luring your puppy to the floor.
3. When their elbows touch ground, say “yes” and reward with a treat.
4. Before your puppy has the chance to finish their treat and get up on their own, raise your fist until they are once again sitting.
5. When your puppy has done this several times, say “down” and begin to use a hand signal without a treat.Extend your right hand with your fingers together and palm facing your puppy, then motion so your palm faces down and is parallel with the floor.
6. Repeat until your dog readily offers the behavior
7. As you practice, remove the treat as a lure and only reward them with the treat when they fully lie down as cued.

Training tips:

• If your puppy seems unsure about performing this behavior, try a different surface or lure your puppy under a chair or your bent legs. Remember to mark and treat when their elbows touch the ground.
• If your puppy merely bows instead of lying all the way down, start saying “yes” for any more movement toward the floor
• Practice, practice, practice! You will always need to practice behaviors to reinforce them.
• As your puppy progresses, layer in added duration (how long they stay down before getting their reward) and distractions (practicing in different settings with different things going on).

For more training tips, take a look at our YouTube channel. If you’re a member or alumni of Petco Positive Dog Training classes, you can get additional support on our Facebook group.