No hassle way to teach the bow

Day One
The dog I chose to teach to bow on command was a young male yellow Labrador retriever, five months old, named Billy. I had trained Billy in many of the basic commands but wanted to teach him a few little tricks - and this is one of them. We spent about five minutes on each session.

My task was to try and get Billy to bow down with his elbows on the floor and bottom up as if in a play bow and hold the position for at least five seconds before standing up again. It is a nice trick with which to impress visitors.

During the first session I took a nice, high quality treat (cat biscuit) and having Billy stand I got on my knees, placing one leg forward into an arch. I then used the treat in my right hand to lure the dog down under my leg while gently placing a finger of my left hand into the dogs withers to prevent his bottom end from lowering to the ground. When he placed his elbows on the ground I would use the clicker, say an excited 'yes', treat him and let him back up to eat his treat and get ready to start again.

After each session of training we played tug-o-war together to end the session with something positive.

We spent about five minutes practicing the bow each time. The first three times Billy bowed under my leg he did it fine and was clicked and rewarded, but the fourth time he managed to place his bottom on the floor, lying down. This time he got no click and no reward. He did the bow fine again another two times and then placed his bottom on the ground again. Each time I helped him with my leg and my finger gently in his withers.

After a 10-minute break we began our training session again. During this session the leg was removed after six practices and the cue 'Bow' was introduced. I did not say 'bow down' as this could confuse him with his 'down' command. Toward the end of this session I took my hand away from his withers so as not to help him hold his bottom up. He did it fine the first time but the second time he went into a 'down' so we took a step back and I helped him again. When he did the bow without my help he was rewarded with a higher quality treat such as cheese.

After the last session we had a two-hour break before begin-ning again. This time I used my leg for him to bow under only three times, then stopped it altogether as he no longer needed it. This time it seemed he had had enough of this training for the day and lay down a lot. But fortunately he finished on a good note. On his last bow I managed to get him to bow for three seconds by withholding the click and reward for three seconds. He got a large treat of cheese for that achievement.

Day Two
It was as if the day's break had done Billy good as during this training session it seemed as if it was all of a sudden coming together for him and he needed little help to do his bow. The leg was not used in this or any other training session from here on. We also had only one session per day from that point on, although we would have had at least two if there had been time.

Day Three
Day three was so much easier and I felt Billy and I were getting somewhere. He no longer needed my help in holding a finger in his withers to make sure he did not lie down. We began to hold the bow for three or four seconds each time, rewarding only the bows he held for three to four seconds. Any less time got no reward, three seconds got a cat biscuit and four seconds got a highly prized piece of cheese.

Day Four
On this day it seemed Billy and I were back to the drawing board. He could not concentrate and did not seem interested in training.

I think perhaps the treat I used this time was too high quality (liver) as it seemed to distract him and he was trying to sniff it all the time. Although he did a lot of bows, he also did a lot of lying down. So we gave up quickly and left him until a little later in the day and used his normal treats. He seemed to be back with me later in the day and his performance was much better.

I feel that Billy now knows this command and just needs it reinforced each day for the next few days, keeping it to five seconds or more and increasing the time to perhaps eight or 10 seconds if I want him to hold the bow for that long or longer.

After that, just a few times a week so that he does not lose it. I guess you could say that to bow for the dog is a natural behaviour because a dog will bow when he wants to initiate play. Perhaps Billy thought he was initiating play behaviour since we played tug-o-war after each session, thus satisfying his desire to play. This probably helped him to learn the trick as quickly as he did.