Dogs Obedience Training

November 15th, 2008 by admin

The sit command is probably the first command most people teach their dog. It has many practical uses and can be applied to many situations. A dog in sit position can not be involved in another activity such as jumping etc. It is also often used as a way of asking your permission and showing respect to you as the leader.

Often dogs are taught to sit before the are allowed to eat or go out. This basically teaches and reinforces to your dog that you are the leader. Teaching your dog to sit before he goes out or eats or goes up the stairs is also very practical.

A dog racing you up the stairs or bolting out an open door can be dangerous especially if you have children. A dog that is taught to sit before it goes out a door is less likely to run out the door when a child opens it also. Children that are old enough should ask the dog to sit as well before going out or feeding them. It helps let the dog know where his place is in the family pack. Your dog’s place in the pack should always be at the bottom.

There are two basic ways of teaching the sit command. The first is to put your dog on a leash and place him on your left side. With the leash in right take your left hand and slightly push on the top of your dog’s butt and push down. When his bottom touches then you say “sit”. This way he understands that sit is when his bottom is on the ground. This was the way I was taught in my first dog training class. Some dogs did fine with this but some resisted. The owners that had dogs that resisted were told to squeeze hard right in front of the dogs hip bones as they pressed. If your dog does sit with the gentle version of this fine. If not move on to my on to the second way to teach a sit.

The second way to teach a sit is really the best way to it. In fact I think it is the only way a sit should be taught. Even if you are gentle with the above method it still won’t work for some dogs. Some dogs are very sensitive to touch. When you touch them it actually distracts them from learning. And the rough version is unacceptable to me. Learning should be fun not painful and frustrating for you or your dog. The method I prefer to use to teach a sit is lure training. It is basically what it sounds like. You use a piece of food or maybe your dogs favorite toy to lure him into a sit.

Take the lure item and hold it close to your dogs nose and lift if up and behind towards his back. Do not let him grab it from you until his bottom touches the ground. When his bottom touches the ground say “sit”. There is no point saying sit to your dog before he actually learns what it means. If your dog keeps scooting back place him with his behind close to a corner. When he has nowhere to back up to he will hopefully sit for you.

After some practice he will learn to sit faster because he is starting to get it. He is learning that he does not get anything until he sits. When he starts sitting quickly you know he probably understands. To really test this you say sit without the lure in front of him. If he sits give him his reward. If he does sit on command over and over you know he understands the meaning of the word. Now when you train mix up the rewards. On the first sit maybe give him a treat. The second time maybe pet him a little. The third time just tell him excitedly what a good boy he is. This causes some confusion because he never knows when he is going to get a treat so he will sit each time. You do not want a dog who will only sit when he knows you have food.

Adding a hand signal for sit is pretty easy. You may want to teach this in case you are unable to tell him verbally to sit such as if he is at a far distance from you or talking on the phone. The hand signal is similar to the movement of luring into a sit. Start with your right arm down at your side, palm open bend your all the way up. By using the verbal command “sit” and the hand signal together it connects the two. Test your dog by just using the hand signal alone. If he does not sit using the hand signal alone go back to using both together. Eventually he will sit with either the hand signal or verbal signal.

After your dog learns to sit you need to clarify what sit means. Sit does not just mean to put your bottom on the floor. It means to sit and not get up until you release your dog. So after he understands the basic sit you want to ask more of him. To release your dog you say “okay”. You want to move him out of the sit as you say “okay”. You can do this by encouraging him to move forward and out of the sit. You can do this by moving back way from him or gently with the leash or collar. If he pops up before the command try to say “okay” as he comes up anyway. Either way it helps him make the connection. A good example is he is on the leash by your side in the sit position. As you say “okay’ you start to walk. Your movement and gently pull on the leash will encourage him out of the sit. As you progress you will move into the sit stay command. The sit stay indicates to your dog that he will be in the sit for some time.

Always make training fun. Keep each session short and successful. Always quit while your dog is doing well and you are happy. If you train to long he can get bored and stop working for you and you will get frustrated as well. You are always better off training 2 or 3 shorter lesson a day rather than one that is too long. For a puppy I would only train a few minutes at at a time working up to 15 minutes. Your puppy will let you know when the lesson is getting to long. If this happens adjust the lessons accordingly.

When we got our husky Buddy we found that although he was smart he was stubborn. At least that was what I thought then because he would learn a command quickly but would not necessarily do it over and over. I learned that he was not stubborn or stupid just not motivated. A lot of dogs will do something for you just to please you or for food(such as the Labrador). Apparently my Husky was more of a what’s in it for my dog. I thought about it from his point of view. What does Buddy love? Buddy loves to play. So I made a game out of it. When ever he sat or downed for me on command we would run a little. Sounds silly but that was his motivator. He loved it. It just made training fun for him. So if your dog is not motivated by food, praise or toys this may just be the ticket for you. It is a very good way for kids to train since it puts them in control of the fun their dog has when he listens.

Well good luck to all and as always keep it fun.