12/03/2025
One of the most popular questions we’re asked is, “How do you get your dogs to lie down so well on sheep?”
While absolutely the standard of ‘consistency and timing’ 100% apply, it’s more than that; it’s the methodology.
Many handlers, including some clinicians, believe that effectively teaching a lie down is solely about pressure—they teach their dog pressure will applied until he lies down.
In essence, they make the task the dog generally doesn’t want to do (stopping) and adds only a negative connotation. Their focus is on insistence and patterning.
While it certainly can work, it often turns the lie down into a correction, even inadvertently.
It can also add additional resistance to something their dog is already reluctant to do.
We don’t subscribe to this approach.
Instead, our method is founded in communication.
Specifically, to convey to our dog that as soon as he lies down, all pressure is released and he gets to flank or walk up, facets he very much wants to do.
From a dog’s perspective, this takes the piece they don’t like (stopping), and turns it into a precursor to the aspects of work they love (flank, walk up, etc).
Dogs quickly connect that complying with lying down= the thing just before the ‘fun stuff’.
This understanding results in our dog’s having anticipation for the lie down and an attitude of ‘what’s next’; very much in contrast to a dog that has been taught the lie as a correction. For our dogs it's another command, like left or right (not a correction).
From an ex*****on perspective, consistency is essential and we always require the lie down if we ask for it.
This includes not letting a dog carrying on even if they slow to a perfect, beautiful pace, not giving another command bf they comply, (including a flank so you don’t miss a gate) etc.
If you do either of those, you’re teaching your dog “lie down” doesn’t mean lie down.
Instead, it means when I give the lie down “wait until I give another flank” or “you decide what to do for this command”.
Often these same handlers get frustrated with their dog for not lying down, when it’s their training that taught them lie down is optional—Of course, that is very unfair.
It’s important when you don’t want a lie down, such as if you only want a slow down, you don’t ask for a lie down, ask instead for a time or steady.
Not every dog needs a lie down often, ( esp. dogs with considerable eye, who may only need a stand) but every dog needs a reliable stop you can call upon so that you can help him (ie sheep running towards fence line, prevent confrontation with sheep, teach bends on outruns, dog leg fetches, lambing, stop them over flanking, the list goes on.)
How you teach matters.
To help your dog achieve his full potential, it should not be about imposing will or patterning—rather it should be about communication and partnership.
Successful training is not about getting your dog to do what you ask, it’s about getting your dog to WANT to do what you ask—
macraeway.com
