Teaching Your Dog to Sit
One of the most useful commands your dog can learn is the sit command. I like to teach this two different ways simultaneously.
The first way is to teach it while you are teaching your dog to heel on a leash. Use the method mentioned in the previous blog, “Teaching Your Dog to Heel”. Each time you stop, the dog should ideally sit beside you with his shoulder blades lined up with the seam of your pants.
The way to accomplish this is not difficult, you just need to be diligent until your dog is conditioned to the command. As you are heeling with the dog on your left, prepare to stop by having the leash across your body in your right hand. Stop, give the dog the command, “Sit” and reach down with your left hand on the dog’s hips and pull up with the leash in the right hand. The dog should sit. When this happens verbally praise, “Good sit, ‘Dog’s Name’, good boy”! Immediately reward with your small, soft treat. Do not dwell on this, but move forward heeling and repeat it again and again.
The dog will probably try to sit crooked. If you do not allow this from the beginning, you will solve the problem up front.
It is very important to prevent injury that you do not push down on the back or lower back. The push down should be low on hips.
Secondly, I do this in the house throughout the day, before feeding, to feed a vitamin or cookie or to start a game or any interaction. For this sit, I face the dog and step forward toward the dog. Most will sit at this action. If he does not, step forward, lift up under the dog’s chin and push down on the rump. Reward at success, verbally and with the treat.
I like this because it causes the dog to keep an eye on your activity and to learn that they must earn everything they receive. This also means that you must be patient and do not give your dog anything without the command coming to fruition. You may have to repeat and repeat or walk away and try again in a minute. If you reward without the command, you will be sending mixed signals and putting the conditioned behavior on hold.
From here, we move on to the best attention exercise, the “Watch”.
Subscribe to Online Training and Obedience
This article was written by Caroline Oldham of http://dogtrainingonlinetips.com - your online source for training tips, real life stories and advice in dealing with dogs.
We ask that you consult with a professional dog trainer, veterinarian or canine behaviorist before implementing any of the advice or opinions contained on this site. 
