- Show your dog a small, bite-sized treat, holding it just a little in front of your dogs eyes, slightly over his head.
Say “Sit” as you bring your hand above your dog’s eyes, about two inches above their head.
When your dog looks up at the treat, they should naturally sit.
Putting your hand in the right place is important. If your hand is too high, your dog will jump up; if it’s too low,they won’t sit.
- When your dog sits, give them the treat and praise them.(Good Dog!)
Praise them without petting them. If you pet them at the same time as you praise them, they’ll probably get up,
when you really want them to sit.
If your dog doesn’t respond on its own, say “Sit” again and physically place them into a sit position by placing your left hand under their tail and behind their knees and your right hand on their chest, and tuck them into a sit. Keep your hands still and count to five before giving your dog the treat.
- Practice making your dog sit several times in a row for several days. Some dogs catch on to this quickly that they sit in front of their owner whenever they want a treat.
When your dog understands what the word “Sit” means, you can start to teach them to obey your command to sit:
- Put the treat in your right hand and keep it at your side.
Put one or two fingers, depending on the size of your dog, of your left hand through the training collar at the top of their neck, palm facing up, and tell them to sit.
If your dog sits, give them a treat and tell your dog how good they are while taking your hand out of the collar. If your dog doesn’t sit, pull up on their collar and wait until your dog sits, and then praise and reward your dog with a treat.
- Practice until your dog sits on command — without your having to pull up on or touch the collar.
Give your dog a treat and praise your dog for every correct response, keeping them in position to the count of five.
As your dog demonstrates that they have mastered sitting on command, start rewarding your dog every other time, then rewarding them randomly — just every now and then. Strange but true for dogs and people, a random reward is the most powerful reinforcement.
Now when your dog wants to greet you by jumping up, tell them to sit. When they does, praise your dog, give a quick pat on the head, and then release them. Following this simple method consistently, you can change your dog’s greeting behavior from trying to jump on you to sitting to be petted.
Be sure to end all your training Session by being positive, if your dog is not listening and distracted or is just not getting it, ask your dog to do something you know they know how to do and quickly give them a treat and end training .
Never train your dog when you are tired or angry with them. All training sessions should be a fun and positive for both pets and their owners. Try and limit training to 10 mintutes several times a day rather than trying to train for longer time periods.This will keep training fun.