The Pocket Guide to the Emergency Down

A stop-and-drop cue for safety

The emergency down asks your dog to drop to the ground wherever they are, straight away, even at a distance. It's different from recall, because sometimes coming back to you is the dangerous part, when it means crossing a road or running past something you'd rather they avoided.

This pocket guide teaches it the way I teach my own dogs: a happy down beside you, speed through a tug game called Scatty Bananas, then distance, movement and distraction one at a time, with troubleshooting and a practice log.

I've been training dogs for over 30 years, and I wrote this the way I'd explain it if we were sat at your kitchen table together.

What's inside

• What the emergency down is, and when you'd use it

• Teaching a happy down beside you, step by step

• Building speed through play

• Adding distance, movement and distraction

• Slow downs, ignored cues and popping back up

• Keeping the cue sharp for life

Pages to print and keep

• A practice log

• A quick-reference page

Why this guide is different

• It's short enough to read in one sitting

• The down is built through play, so dogs love doing it

• It's kind to growing joints, with soft ground and low repetitions

• It never uses punishment or telling off

• It's built on games plus structure, with reward-based training

Who it's for

Families who walk their dog off lead or on a long line, and anyone who'd like an extra safety cue alongside recall, wherever they live.

What you get

A 18-page PDF and an EPUB in one ZIP file, emailed to you straight after checkout. Read it on your phone, tablet, e-reader or computer, and print the pages at the back.