One of your first and easiest training techniques will be teaching your dog to sit on command. To do this, you must first, find a quiet area of the house away from distractions. Next, you must make sure that you have some of your dog’s favorite treats as a reward. You are now ready to teach your dog to sit.
- Call your dog by his name to ensure that you get his attention.
- Then kneel down beside him with the treats in your hand.
- Place your hand that holds the treats near your dog’s nose so that he is aware that you have something for him.
- Then slowly raise your hand over your dog’s head.
With the other hand, push your dog’s behind down into a sitting position and firmly say “Sit” while still holding the treat over his head. If the dog jumps up to get the treat, firmly say “No”. Being firm, but not cruel, will be required when you are teaching your dog to sit.
Once the dog is sitting give him his reward. Repeat this action a few times until the dog knows that he will only get the treat when he is sitting. After a couple of times you should not need to use your hand to push his bottom to the ground. It should start going down by itself, whenever you place the treats over your dog’s head.
You may need to practice this quite a few times till your dog understands what you want him to do. Remember to keep the sessions short- between ten to fifteen minutes per session, one to three times per day.
You can also train your dog to sit by rewarding him and saying, “Sit” every time you see him getting ready to sit down on his own accord. This way, he will learn that he will be rewarded every time he sits down. Once your dog is able to sit on command inside your home, you should be able to get him to do the same thing when he is outside.
It is quite a delight to interact with your dog once you have taught him to sit on command.