How To Train My Dog to Sit
An untrained or poorly trained dog is a nuisance and can even be a danger to itself and others. While a properly trained dog, is a wonderful and pleasant companion. Dog training, in addition to helping you bond, can even protect your pet from being hurt itself or others if they listen commands and come when called.
Teaching your dog to sit has many benefits:
- It strengthens the bond between pet owner and dog.
- It helps build impulse control and obedience.
- It provides a way to get your dog’s attention focused on you if they are distracted or over-stimulated.
- A good grasp of the sit command can help keep your dog from jumping up on people (in many cases dogs require additional training to stop jumping on people along with sit training).
- Sitting is one of the first steps to teaching your puppy basic orders.
- A dog that knows how to sit on command is less likely to run into dangerous situations or cause harm to others.
Remember that training your dog is important so that you can take them out without worrying about their behavior. Spending just a few minutes each day training your dog will help build a strong, lasting relationship.
When training, remember that dogs respond best to positive reinforcement while yelling at your dog and hitting them will not help in your dog’s training. Use rewards such as treats and your approval to make the task more pleasant for both of you!
When training your dog, there is a common process that can be applied to any command. The key is to get your dog to perform the action at the exact moment you give the command, then praise and reward them with a treat. After a while, your dog will associate the action with the command and respond accordingly.
Here are some steps you can use to train your dog with the most basic “sit” command:
- Hold a treat in front of your dog’s nose.
- Slowly move the treat up and back over their head.
- As your dog follows the treat with their nose, their rear end should naturally lower to the ground.
- As soon as your dog is in a sitting position, say “sit” and reward them with the treat and praise.
- Repeat these steps several times until your dog associates the action with the command.
Remember that training your dog is important so that you can take them out without worrying about their behavior. Spending just a few minutes each day training your dog will help build a strong, lasting relationship.
The key to the training is to present the reward at the exact moment the dog sits, but you must also give the command at that moment as well so that your dog associates the command with the action. So as the dog sits, say, “sit” and then immediately reward them with the treat.
Give the dog praise – show joy in your voice and he will really respond.
Repeat three to five times at each session but no more than that. Training should be fun and not a boring chore, so don’t overdo it in one sitting. You may have several sessions throughout the day.
When you spend the time to train your dog, you get much more than just a dog that does some tricks. Through good training your position as leader is strengthened. You should plan to spend a couple of minutes every day on practicing his “tricks”. This type of repetitive reinforcement will help him to remember and also create an everlasting bond between you.
