-The Sit-

A dog's body follows their nose. With the dog standing slowly raise your hand in front of his nose up higher, stretching the nose in the air. As the dog's rear collects under his body to maintain this position, lower your hand enough for the dog's butt to sit.

 

-The Down-

A dog's body follows their nose. With the dog standing slowly lower your closed food hand to the ground. First lower straight down from the nose, then as his front end meets the ground, inch your food hand slightly forward away from the puppy, keeping the hand on the ground. This will take a little practice on your part learning how to manipulate the dog's body with his nose. As your hand goes down softly repeat the platz command. Say it clearly and succinctly. The command must be said for the dog to associate it with the hand motion. Once the puppy's entire body is down, reward him by letting him feed. Refrain from pushing the rear down yourself, rather experiment with your food hand to get the desired position. Often, pushing into the dog then inching out will get the butt down. It can be difficult to get the down from a standing position initially. It is alright to begin from a sitting position instead. But don't accept that as the only way a dog can down. The "full body drop" is faster than downing from sitting.