Here Sue is coaching just the first 2 minutes of this loooong video. This is a great example of "Don't add the cue until the dog is volunteering the exact behavior you want." Even better (below) is the detail of what Sue sees and shares.
Response to the first cue at :11 was good. It took him a moment to GET down, but he STARTED to go down as soon as he heard the cue.
Response to the second cue at :30 was not good. The six seconds it took him to down involved 3 steps, a sit, a good long think, and a slide. I don't call ANY of those things "down".
The third one at :46 was faster - 3 seconds - still a slow response - but involved 3 steps forward before the down. Again, not a correct response.
The fourth one at 1:08 was a bit faster but still involved taking 2 steps before the down. Not correct.
I don't see these things as incorrect responses to the cue I see them as not knowing the cue means the behaviour of lying down. If you're willing to define your down cue as "take 3 steps in any direction, sit, think about what I said, then slide slowly into a down", then hey, you've got it!
But if I had a dog who was responding like this, you couldn't pay me to use a cue until she understood what I wanted.
Now let's talk about what you wrote on the screen at the beginning of the clip.
The click ends the behaviour. The click ends the behaviour. This is a very basic principle of clicker training. When you have clicked, the dog has ALREADY done what you want him to do. He can move or not move, as he wants to.
When I'm working on lying down, I toss the treat far enough away to get the dog up so he can offer me another down.
When I'm working on STAYING down, I toss the treat between his paws or give it to him, but if I've clicked, he can get up if he wants to.
Note that LYING down and STAYING down are two entirely different behaviours and should be worked separately.
Sue.eh
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