It turns out I was overthinking the Stop and Down. I reread the exercise description:
While moving with the dog in heel position, the handler commands and/or signals the dog to down as the handler comes to a stop next to the dog. Once the dog is completely down, the handler moves forward, commanding the dog to move forward from down position. (from the AKC Rally Regulations)
Then I read some past posts about the exercise on the Rally-obed Yahoo! Group.
One main point is that the dog cannot sit before the down, so the timing of the “down” command is pretty important. It has to come just before the handler actually stops, since most obedience trained dogs will automatically sit when the handler stops. Axel doesn’t really have an automatic sit at the moment, since he’s been shown mostly in conformation and has been taught to stand and hopefully stack handsomely when stopping. For the purposes of this exercise, it sort of helps that he doesn’t sit automatically
He does know down in motion (my delusions about one day returning to Schutzhund have actually been quite useful for Rally), so it became a matter of timing the “down” command and timing a smooth stop on my part. Going straight back into heeling from the down wasn’t a problem either so I think we’re good on this exercise.
I have to make sure Axel is still bilingual and practice with English commands this week. I usually train and trial using German commands. Yes, again partly due to the Schutzhund delusions. But my original reason for switching to German commands for training is because it’s so nice to have both casual and strict commands. So if I tell a dog “down” in the house, I don’t really care if he takes a little while to get comfortable or if he lies down next to me or in the other room, or if he gets up and lies down again somewhere else. “Platz” on the other hand means drop like a rock on my command and don’t move at all till I tell you to.
Just a week to go, I’m going to miss my big obnoxious puppy!
(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 18 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 240 of 274)