The "Sit" Command - Step by Step

The "sit" command is usually the very first command a dog owner will teach his new puppy. Many people expect their dogs to sit before they can have their food. And the dogs learn very quickly that if they do not sit, they will not get their food immediately. That is why meal times are very good training opportunities.
Let’s say you have a new puppy and you have not done any training of any sort with any dog before. Now you want to teach the puppy to sit on command. Where do you start?
Make sure you have a clicker. (For more information about the clicker, http://www.dogtrainingtipsforfree.com/Clicker%20Training.html). Make sure you have lots of small yummy treats. It can be very tiny pieces of meat, chicken or sausage or cheese. It should not be something that the puppy would have to chow on for minutes. Take your puppy with you to a quiet room with very little distractions in. At this stage, put the puppy on lead. He will learn to associate that with training sessions.
Now you can start by charging up the clicker. That only means click and treat a few times, so that the puppy can start to associate the sound of the click with the receiving of a treat. After a few clicks the puppy will look at the clicking hand to see when the next click is going to be. When that happens, take a treat in the other hand, hold it in front of his nose (don’t let him grab it!), move your hand backwards and up, luring your puppy into the sit position. Do not say a word, do not say "sit".The moment his bum hits the ground, click and give the treat. Repeat 15 – 20 times. Have a short break and repeat that exercise again about 10 times.
By now your puppy will almost certainly go into the sit position all by himself. Repeat the above exercise 20 times but now you say the command "sit" as you lure him into position. Click and treat everytime he sits. You can now test him by just giving the verbal command and not luring him into position. Just give the command once. If he does go into the sit, click and treat and make a big fuss. If he does not, do not get frustrated. Take a break and play with your puppy and then repeat the luring exercise again 20 or more times. Test him again. Repeat untill he understands the command.
Repeat the sit exercise many times a day. You can now start to add distractions and you can start to let you puppy sit in different positions in relation to yourself, infront of you and on your left and your right. Congratulations, you have, in only a few short sessions, taught your new puppy to sit on command.
Written by MS du Toit, owner of http://www.dogtrainingtipsforfree.com and http://training-fido.blogspot.com