The "Distance Sit" and "Distance Down"

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These two commands are invaluable for controlling your dog off-leash, whether in your house, your yard, a dog park, or if he simply "gets loose."  NOTE: the work on these commands PRESUPPOSES that your dog already consistently responds to the normal “sit” and “down” commands.

The concept is simple: your dog should immediately either “sit” or “down” on the spot it is currently occupying, regardless how close or far away the handler is at the moment s/he is giving the command. 

The challenge is twofold: first, most dogs, having learned the “sit” and “down” in the context of having the handler next to them, will typically try to duplicate that context by first moving toward the handler, rather than sitting or downing immediately in place; second, most dogs are more distractible and less compliant when physically further removed from the handler.

The benefit of teaching these commands is great in terms of controlling your dog and potentially protecting him/her from harm.  First, many dogs will comply with these commands more readily than to “come,” because it does not require the dog to actually take his eyes off whatever else he is focused on and actually turn his back on it. 

Second, in many situations, such as when your dog has run out of the yard and crossed the street off-leash, calling the dog to “come” may place the dog in more danger as he would need to cross the street again.  A better solution is to command the dog to “sit” or “down” in place, and then the handler can safely cross the street, attach the leash, and safely cross the street again with dog in hand. 

Finally, “downing” a dog can often defuse potentially dangerous situations or situations in which your dog may be frightening to someone else.  When approached by an aggressive off-leash dog, for instance, if your dog will “down,” (even though, potentially, it is at the other end of a 16 foot retractable leash from its handler) that will frequently forestall the aggression, as your dog has essentially said “uncle” in dog language.  Similarly, if your dog is off-leash and you encounter someone frail or a child, being able to immediately “down” or at least “sit” your dog can prevent someone from being frightened or even knocked over.

Training the Distance Sit and Distance Down:

Start with the Distance Sit: (have treats with you for this exercise and start INDOORS)

First, find a spot where the dog will be comfortable sitting (i.e., NOT on a slippery floor) and tether the dog by passing a six-foot leash around some solid pole-like object (chair-leg, table-leg, banister, etc.) and threading the clip through the handle loop before attaching it to the dog’s collar.  If you are using a slip collar or a pinch collar, attach the clip to the dead ring or to both rings so it will not choke the dog if he strains against it a bit.

Second, move away from the dog about 8 to 10 feet, but try to make yourself interesting so that the dog remains standing (hop around and be silly if necessary -- but stop this and get serious when you give the command) .  Give the verbal command “sit” and at the same time point at the dog.  The pointing is most effective if you have already been using it consistently with the verbal command whenever you command "sit."  It generally helps from the distance if you also stretch your arm out to the dog as you point.  If the dog does not sit, move towards it by a step or two and repeat.  If this still gets no response, walk all the way up until you are right next to the dog and give the “sit” command along with the hand signal.  If your dog still fails to sit, you need to go back to working on the basic sit command until you are getting the correct response at least 90 percent of the time. 

Assuming that your dog does sit: praise “good sit”, and treat.  Then move one step away and try from there, following the instructions from the 8-10 foot distance above.  With some dogs, you will need to increase the distance very slowly, only increasing the distance after the dog is successfully sitting at the given distance at least 90 percent of the time.  Do not spend more than 10 minutes at a time on this (with at least an hour break in between). 

Once your dog is sitting on command consistently from an 8-10 foot distance while tethered in one location, switch to another location.  Once the dog is sitting fairly consistently from a distance when tethered in more than one location, then you can start working with the dog loose, but a leash trailing (again, you are still INDOORS). 

This is best trained as you go through the day, rather than in long sessions.  So, from time to time, and with a treat available in hand and a leash trailing from your dog, command your dog to sit when it is some distance (8 to 20 feet, say) from you.  If the dog starts to approach you rather than sitting where it was when you commanded it, tell the dog “no” in a calm voice and put your hand out in the stay signal.  If the dog has only moved forward slightly before your signal convinced it to halt and sit, go to the dog and praise “good sit” and treat.  If the dog came forward at least half the distance between you, lead the dog back to where it was supposed to sit, and tell it to sit.  Praise, but DO NOT treat if the dog had to be led back. 

If the dog sits as commanded, go to the dog, praise: “good sit,” and treat.  If the dog sits as commanded, but breaks as you approach, use the “stay” command as soon as the dog has sat, and deal with any breaking as above.

As with any command, and particularly those that can be life-saving, once I am certain the dog understands what is required (after a number of days of working on it, and consistent performance without distraction), I will begin to correct the dog when it fails to perform, in addition to praising and treating when it does perform.  In this case, if the dog fails to sit (he should have a leash trailing), I would immediately say “no” as I am walking to the dog, lead it back to the place where it was supposed to sit, and place it in a sit.  Once the dog has sat, it still gets praised, but no treat.  Then I would immediately give the dog another chance to get it right from the beginning -- in which case it would receive both praise and a treat.

Once the dog is doing the distance sit well indoors without distraction, you can add distraction (i.e., have the kids run through the room), and you can begin to train outside.  Begin outside the same way as inside: with a tether.  When the dog is doing well with the tether, rather than proceeding directly to “loose”, put the dog on the 20 foot training lead, allow the dog to mooch around until he is 8-10 feet away from you and train the distance sit as you did inside with the dog off-leash.  Make sure there is no tension in the leash when you are asking the dog to sit; you want to simulate an off-leash situation as much as possible.   (Hence, a retractable leash will not work in this situation, as it ALWAYS has tension by design.)

If you have a fenced yard, you can proceed fairly quickly to off-leash work in the yard.  If not, the next step is to keep the dog trailing the long lead and only when the dog is sitting very reliably with the long-lead trailing would you allow the dog off-leash altogether.  Even if your dog is distance sitting reliably in your fenced yard off-leash, I still recommend using the trailing long lead the first few times you attempt this where there is no fence.

The Distance Down is trained almost identically to the Distance Sit, but it should go a little faster if the dog has already gotten the Distance Sit.  Having said that, however, there is no reason you have to wait for that to begin training the Distance Down.

Follow the steps above given for the Distance Sit, with the following modifications:

First, obviously, the command will be “down” rather than “sit” and the hand signal is the down signal, which consists of raising your right hand as if you were taking the oath of office and sweeping it down virtually or all the way to the floor. 

Two things that can help encourage the Distance Down: (1) getting down on the ground yourself – specifically kneeling and then lowering your upper body so that your forearms rest on the floor – as you give the command, and (2) patting the floor.  If you find that lowering your body works – be aware that the dog may break the down as you stand back up.  You can attempt to counter that by giving the Stay command before you rise – it also helps to keep your hand in the Stay command as you rise relatively slowly.  Jumping up quickly will cause many a dog to break.  Otherwise, train as in the Distance Sit.

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