How To Teach Your Dog Some Important Tricks (And Some Not So Important Ones)

Step 2 Sit!

Sit is one of the most important commands you can teach your dog because it is the bridge to so many more commands. It is much easier to teach your dog to lay down if it knows how to sit. It's important to remember to do this when your dog is calm, and to stop when she stops being calm. She's not learning anything if she's freaking out, that just means she's confused.

HOW TO:

1. Grab your treat bag and take your dog where there aren't going to be distractions for her.

2. Once your dog is standing still, grab one of the treats.

3. Now that your dog is looking at the treat, move it up and slightly behind her head so that she will have to sit down to look at it.

4. If she doesn't sit down when you do this push down on her lower back while you're doing step 3. This should make her sit down.

5. As soon as her rump hits the floor, say Sit in a strong voice. Only say it once or it will confuse the dog.

6. Repeat this until A. Your dog is overloaded on treats, B. Your dog is freaking out and confused, or C. Your dog can sit.

Remember, this takes time. Don't expect your dog to get it in one session! Even if she does you should do the exercise again the next day, or even sooner, because odds are that she already forgot it.

Comments

[Daemidra]

I try to put the treat behind her head. Guess what my dog dogs. Jumps back and tries to get the treat out of my hand, and she's barely a foot tall, but like 6 years old. She's a Maltese, they're small. Any suggestions? Because she seems to forget what the trick is called. All she knows is I call her name once: sit; I call her name twice: Lay down.
The frisbee is a little less than one foot from one side to another
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[helifino]

Fearful dogs like mine don't like when people put hands over their heads.

I had to teach sit in three steps (you get a couple of other 'tricks' along the way):
1) Stand - hold the treat just far enough above your dog's head to get her to stand on her back legs. When she gets this one down pat, move on to:
2) Sit pretty/Beg - start in a stand, then lower the treat (enclosed in your hand) until her butt hits the ground. Once she gets this trick down pat without having to start from a stand, move on to:
3) Sit - start from a beg, move the treat down until both her front paws hit the floor.

[thedragonmaster]

Dogs sometimes sit when treats are about, almost in an "asking" manner. Make sure to see if He/she does this.

[hellstudios]

i always thought was because they wanted it faster xD

[jdege]

Don't push down on her back. Dogs' joints aren't very resistant to pressure from unusual directions. Humans have tree-climbers in our ancestry, so our shoulders and hips are built for pressure from odd angles. Dogs weren't, and so dogs' aren't. If you are trying to force a sit, do so lightly, and do it with a hand on the tail, with your fingers pushing lightly against the inside of the stifle (knee). Don't just push down straight - you could cause serious injury.

[Gjdj3]

Thanks for pointing that out. My instructable intends no harm towards dogs, and I tried to make it clear that it was to be a light pressure. I'll add what you said because I think it is important. THANK YOU!