If you follow Bulldog Abbie's blog you've probably seen at least a couple of pictures of her sitting patiently dressed up in a suit and tie, or wearing a gypsy outfit, as I happily click away with the camera.
It doesn't really matter if you want a champion show dog, or just a well trained canine companion, every dog will benefit from learning how to sit properly. Learning how to sit is the foundation lesson for almost every other trick or command you might want to teach your dog.
To properly teach your dog to sit it helps to remove all other distractions from the area first. This includes turning off the television, sending the kids outside to play, and putting any other dogs out in the yard or another room. It's extremely difficult to properly train one dog if another dog is right there competing for the treats!
To get started, find an open corner of the room, or at least a wall where you can back the puppy up so that he can't really back up any further.
Make sure you have a bag of small treats, kibble size, nothing big. You don't want the puppy to fill up on treats and lose interest in the lessons.
With your puppy backed up to the wall, take the leash in your non-signal hand and a treat in your signal hand. Then give the treat to the puppy. Yummy, yummy, that will inspire him to try for another one!
The sign I use for teaching sit to my dogs is a closed fist facing the dog with my index finger pointing towards the ceiling. The sign you might give someone if you were telling them "one minute please".
You can use any signal that you feel comfortable with, but I've found that closed hand signal seems to work best for me at this early level of training. It allows me to hold the treat near the puppy's nose to keep him focused, but it also prevents him from being able to snatch the treat before I'm ready to give it to him.
Later on as the puppy's training advances and I don't have to worry about him breaking his position to grab the treat, then signals can be more open.
So let's get started!
With the treat in your signal hand, and your hand making the sign for sit, tell him "SIT" in a firmly commanding tone, and move the treat towards and over the dog's head so that he must sit back on his haunches to follow your hand with his nose. You want your hand close enough to his head that he doesn't jump up for the treat, it's even okay for him to sniff or lick your hand.
With him backed up against the wall he can't back up to get the treat, the only way he can get to it is to sit down. As soon as he sits down open your hand, give him the treat, and praise him repeatedly for being such a good boy!
Give him a second to calm down again before you repeat the lesson.
Puppies have very short attention spans so limit each lesson to ten repetitions or five minutes, whichever comes first. As he gets older you can extend the time and the number of repetitions gradually, but it's important that you don't overwork a dog or they will burn out quickly.
You'll be surprised how quickly your puppy will catch on using this method. Even a stubborn bulldog like Abbie was sitting like a pro in just a couple of lessons!
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