sitstayforweb.jpg

Before you begin you should know.

Teaching your dog how to sit is a relatively simple task. All it depends on is your approach. First off, certain dogs are easier to teach than others. Large breeds, such as Golden Retrievers will catch on to commands like sit or lay down faster than a small breed, such as a Maltese. Not to say it will be impossible to teach a toy dog breed, just more difficult.

Patience

To keep it simple trainging dogs is a difficult process. It takes time and above all, patience. Please do not get frustrated if your dog does not catch on right away. Do not yell at your dog. This will have a negative consequence and slow the learning process. Never hit your dog. Finally, have fun.

Teaching Your Dog to Sit

  1. First we need to get our dog to stand in front of us.

  2. Show your dog a treat by holding it in front of you at chin level, or giving a look command (if they know the command) 

  3. Then simply grab the treat in your hand and put it above their nose (the treat has to be touching the nose).

  4. Then move the treat back slowly along the nose. Do not say “sit”. Most dogs don’t know the word “sit” and won’t respond to it. Your dog will learn to recognize you hand gesture when you put your hand on top of thier nose.

  5.  Your dogs natural instick will be to lift his head and grab the treat. Make sure you hold the treat at the base of the nose where they can’t get it. Once done they will sit in an attempt to get the treat.

  6. Lastly, when completed give a high pitched good dog or click (with clicker) followed by a treat. Remeber the reward has to be given to the dog within five seconds of a successful sit. If not they will not associate the treat with a completed command.

This technique works well with both small and large breed dogs. Practice makes perfect. Training fifteen minutes a day will prove to be very usefull and will help solidify the sit command for life. Once your dog knows how to sit, putting your hand right above his nose or raising your hand (refer to picture above) will command the dog to sit. So now you know how to teach your dog to sit. Go on and train your pal.