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Thanks mmclean, good to know I am not alone here.

Okay, so when exactly are you supposed to do the pinning? Molly is almost out of control when it comes time for her walks. She jumps and barks and bites at her leash and this carries on until about 5 mins into the walk. Beaglemum, Molly will also do the same thing when you grab her collar. She will immediately go into a lie down position. Sometimes she puts up a fight for about 4 secs and then she submits.....so I think. As soon as I let her go, she gets all excited again. It's like she thinks I am playing with her. Have you had any success since your last post?

Kris

I tryed pinning my dog Berkclay, I thought that I would have a problem with him being stubborn, but nope, He layed down right away! Acually he rolled over on his back

That's what we're talking about Krystal, our dogs are doing that as well but we are not sure if it is actual submission or just trying to be a pain in the *** and not co-operate with the exercise.

Honestly, I haven't tried it again since the last time. I haven't really gotten a clear answer from anyone when it should be done and what to do with the rolling over. Again, something I am waiting for the seminar for.

Yes I will be asking this Question too, if I have a chance too, what I did with him was walk up to him and just grabbed him, and right away he did it. So I let go and he got up, but was still laying down. I think that if I did this to him in the beginning where he had no training, I am sure he would be Stobborn about it

The idea is to repeat this for something like 25 times in a row. Pull down until the dog goes down then pull him back up into a sitting position - that is 1 rep. - then repeat this many more times in a row. Usually after about 10 or so you're dog will most likely get annoyed and that is when they may start to fight you. A lot of dogs will go down easily the first time, it's the repetition that can bring out your dogs true colours. It is much easier to understand once you have watched Brad do it - hopefully he will be able to demonstrate at the Ottawa seminar (with an imaginary dog) to clear up any confusion.

Luka is correct. If your dog is rolling over on it's side and you stop then your dog has just learned how to stop you from controlling him. You don't actually want to pull/push your dog to the ground, you only apply slightly (3-5%) more pressure downwards then what the dog is using to hold themselves up. Luka is also dead on saying that a complete rep is one down and up. Then repeat 20-25 times. If you get to 25 and your dog is still struggling then don't stop until you get atleast 2 in a row without any problems.
With all of that said it would probably be better to watch someone who knows how to do it before attempting it yourself. Pinning can be extremely dangerous and needs to be done in the correct manner. It may even be in the best interest to wait until your local seminar and ask Brad at that time whether he thinks you should be pinning.

Okay, I finally bought the Synergy book today, and worked on the pinning exercise with my dogs. It went very well. I can definitely tell which dog is more resistant to my leadership! She resisted much more than my younger dog. My question is, my older dog is about 50 pounds, and when I lift her back up into a sitting position, she makes a bit of a gagging noise, like maybe I'm pulling her up wrong? Am I supposed to take my thumbs out of the collar before lifting her up? Thanks for any input!

I think in the book it says if the dog is so excited that they are jumping all over the place when you are going for a walk that you should just leave the leash on them (inside) until they calm down and then take them out repeat if necessary. Seemed to work for me today.