[yorkietalkjilly]

What does he do when you give the hand signal and say "Down"? If you keep at it long enough and keep putting the treat down on the ground in front of him but not letting him have it until he lies down to try to get it from your fist when nothing else has worked, he will eventually lie down to work at your fist. That's when you say, "Good boy!" and let him have his treat immediately. Then repeat the same thing another time or two and move on, let him go outside or start really playing with him and celebrating the training session by tossing a ball for him or hand-playing with him, running around clapping your hands, things like that to celebrate the end of the training session and keep it all upbeat.

Once or twice I have gently taken the dogs front legs and carefully slid them forward until the dog slowly lays down and immediately told him "Good Boy!" and treated him but only very rarely as I want the dog to actively lower himself and eventually get the idea that down means he does what it takes himself to life down with his paws out in front of him.

If you sit on the floor in front of him or just to the side and keep that treat on the floor long enough in your closed fist, he should try many ways to get to it but finally lie down to work on getting it from you so keep up the trying however long it takes and he will slowly begin to understand that only making himself lie down on the floor will bring him his much-desired treat - and your praise.

I would keep training that command two or three times in a row two or three times daily each day until he easily and immediately lays down as soon as you give the command and does it 99% of the time. The great secret to training is to only do a single command two or three times in the row as most small dogs quickly tire of doing a single trick and find it dull as dishwater to repeat it a fourth or fifth time. Then move on and train another easy trick two or three times and so on but keep each session at no longer than five minutes.