My dog won't hold his down command; how do I teach him to stay and head down?

You are teaching him the correct way, it is just going to take time and maybe a little maturity to help with attention span and focus. I would try a different trick like stay to help work on the focus. You could also catch him in the act of laying down and sa the command and govehim a treat and with time he will start to connect the two. Just stay patient. You are doing a good job! https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/teach-your-puppy-these-5-basic-commands/

Combine the treat with a hand signal, such as pointing at the floor, and a command ("Linda, down!") Praise her if she starts to, even if she doesn't get all the way down, so she gets the idea that this is what you want. Gradually phase out the treat to every other attempt, then every third, etc. until you do away with it altogether and she drops just on your command and hand signal alone.

If you're wanting him to hold concentration for longer, I would increase the time gradually between performing the behavior and reward. You can use a "look at me" and bring the treat or ball to your forehead to initiate contact, and then count to 1, then 2, then 3 before rewarding. Clicker training may be another avenue to go down as it turns the click into the indication of reward, so you can hold a position/behavior longer before clicking to release and reward. If Ted is getting very excited, working on some other concentration/impulse control behaviors such as airplaning treats while he holds a sit (to work on sitting still and waiting), settle (laying down in a relaxed position), take it/leave it/drop it, etc can also help with patience. You can find many of these behaviors on Youtube or other websites if you want a guide to follow as well.

Then next several weeks, anytime you give the sit command have her on a leash so she can’t down. If she tires to down, stand her and walk a few feet, then give the Sit command again. Keep working. Lots of praise. She will get it.

A good way to teach dogs interested in standing again or rolling over when laying down is to practice the "army crawl" this involves luring her under your legs (if she's small enough) or a chair to force her to lay down without being able to flop over or stand back up again. You can also place the chair against a wall to sort of "box her in" as well. If she isn't interested in treats, you may want to see if she likes people food such as boiled chicken, hotdog or even a little cheese as a "jackpot" or super high value reward, which can then be given when she finally does what you want to really ensure she knows she did the right thing. If she isn't treat-driven, praising her on her progress or using a toy/petting her can be rewards as well. You can gradually work her up to the right action by praising her when she is close to it, then stopping the praise and "waiting" for her to figure out a different action that is more similar (looking up how to "shape" a behavior can give you a more detailed explanation about this.)

There are 2 commonly used methods for training. The first is luring where you lure them into the desired posture and the second is that you wait for them to naturally do the desired behavior, then instantly reward them when they do the behavior. The second way of training is generally more difficult and requires more patience and perfect timing for rewarding, so the luring technique is the one that is more commonly used. If you want to use the second technique, then I would work on clicker training Bella since that will be the best way to immediately reinforce the behavior you want. If you want to continue to try the luring technique, I would recommend a VERY high value treat (like fresh chicken or cheese) to get her to follow the treat more reliably. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would recommend using treats to show Blessy what you want, and to reward her when she does what you ask. If there are specific behaviors that you aren't sure how to teach, feel free to post another question and ask - we would be happy to try and help :) For more general training information, I highly recommend the book "How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves" by Dr. Sophia Yin. It has lots of details on training dogs in general, as well as instructions for training specific commands like sit, down, come, etc.