Teach Your Dog to Sit with These Simple Tricks
We have all heard the saying that you “can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Nevertheless sometimes it can be tricky to teach a adolescent puppy a trick that has been around for centuries. A simple, “sit” or “stay” can be quite the boring task for a dog with no focus or motivation, or a dog without correct training. But you shouldn’t run to go hire an expert dog trainer just yet. There’s a few simple instructions you can follow to teach your dog simple commands such as “sit”, “come”, “stay” and “down” all by yourself. In this post, we’ll go over the “sit” command.
There’s two key factors to teaching a puppy any trick – repetition and consistency. Repetition is required so the dog can learn the behavior you are trying to teach it, while consistency is necessary so the dog will learn to always perform the command every time it is said. If you aren’t really serious about having the dog do what you ask, no amount of training will help you.
You will want a few simple tools at the time you begin training. First, have your puppy in a room with no distractions. It ought to be quiet and relaxed, without extra animals or people. You want the dog to be able to focus it’s entire attention on you. Another thing you should keep within reach is dog treats. Try to use the moist treats as opposed to dry dog food or bones. The moist treat is more of an instant reward, whereas the dry food they have to chew it to fully gain the reward. One thing that will help with treats is a fanny pack or a treat bag, so you can have your hands free and treat easily. Clickers, leashes, collars and harnesses are other aids that you may make use of depending on what you are teaching the dog to do.
Here are the five steps to training your dog to sit.
1: With your dog in a calm place, grab his or her attention by holding a treat up in your hand.
2: Gradually move the treat over their head. Your hand should be about six inches above their head. Just low down enough that they are able to see the treat, but not so high that they feel the desire to bound up and grab it. Maintain moving your hand until your dog draws his or her head back. As their head tilts back, you’ll see their hind end drop to enable their eyes to continue watching. A dog isn’t able to look at something above them without sitting down. Move the treat all the way back until your dogs hind end touches the floor.
3: Instantaneously give the treat and praise, whether it be verbal or physical in the form of a few pats.
4: Replicate the above steps until your dog dependably sits when you move the treat above their head.
5: Once you’ve hit this mark, you can start to put a command to it. You’ll want to say, “sit” right as you notice their legs starting to bend. Timing is crucial and you don’t want to treat too early or too late.
Voi’la! You now have a puppy that knows how sit! Carry on training twice daily, and have the lessons quick. You don’t want the puppy to get bored. After a time, you’ll be able to get rid of the use of treats and have your dog perform the command on it’s own with only verbal praise as a reward.
Tags: dog tricks
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