lies on back during down command

[pranaman]

my dog gets very submissive during training sessions, and she looks almost scared. I never raise my voice or exhibit anything remotely close to violent behavior. When i give her the down command, she will sometimes go down on her belly to the floor then after a second or two will lay on her back, belly up. All other times she will just go straight to laying on her back. What can I do to help her with this?

[Dekka]

Reward her sooner.. walk away if she rolls over. Mark/reward (click treat, or word treat) as soon as the belly hits the ground. If she is too fast just walk away. If she rolls over run away a few times and see if you can get her to chase you.

I trained an overly submissive JRT. Make sure even your body posture isn't condemning when she makes a mistake.

[corgipower]

You can just ignore it, reward her for being down and continue training. I've seen many dogs who do this in early stages of training and as they progress they stop.

They stop because their confidence increases and also because when you start doing things like sit-down-sit, or heeling out of a down or come out of a down they learn to be in a position where they can get up more easily.