Mary Allen
What this simple exercise can tell you about your communication.
“Sit?” My dog has been able to do that for ages…” you may think and be surprised that an entire article can be devoted to this simplest of all commands. But as is so often the case in life, the same applies to dog training: If the basics are right, you can build on a lot of other things – even as an experienced dog owner
The Beginning of Your Dog Training
“Sit!” is usually the first command every dog learns, whether they come into the house as a puppy or move into a new home at an older age. Many dogs also learn this command so quickly and confidently that we dog owners think “sit!” is somehow not a real command. Because only what is difficult and takes a long time to learn has something to do with dog training, right? Not at all: “Sit!” is usually learned quickly, but it can always be improved and used in many ways.
“Sit!” is your last resort
Precisely because “Sit!” can be called up reliably, it’s a wonderful command when something doesn’t go so well. Surely you know that too: You try to teach your dog something, but it just doesn’t work. Everything else seems more interesting to him or he just doesn’t understand what you want. Then the command “Sit!” is a safe emergency solution, because on the one hand you can “shut down” your dog and draw his attention to you. And on the other hand, your dog is finally doing something that you can reward at the end. This is how a chaotic exercise unit ends with small success.
Basic education
This is how your dog learns to “sit!”
If your dog isn’t familiar with the “sit!” command, start right away:
- Pick up a treat.
- Stand in front of your dog and show him the treat so he lifts his head to your hand.
- Now guide the treat just above the dog’s head towards the back.
- The dog will want to follow the hand with his head and sit down. If your dog moves backward, practice in front of a wall so that backward retreat is blocked.
- At that moment you say “Sit!” and reward him with the treat.
- Repeat five or six times, then take a break. After a quarter of an hour, you try again and can see whether your dog has already understood the command “sit!”, even if not every attempt has worked. But a first start has been made.
Extra tip: If you are holding the treat in your hand, you can extend the index finger of that hand at the same time as you initially show your dog the treat. So he quickly associates this hand signal with the exercise and after a while will sit down on mere finger-pointing.
For advanced: Recognize your communication patterns
Precisely because the command “Sit!” can usually be called out safely, it is suitable, for example, to test which “reinforcers” your dog needs in order to obey it:
Experiment
What signals are you giving your dog?
It probably looks like this when you tell your dog “Sit!”
- You stand or sit in close proximity to your dog.
- You look at him
- You give a voice signal and maybe also a hand signal.
- You might also lean forward a little.
- Your attention is with your dog throughout the process.
These are all aspects of your communication. Together they form the command “Sit!” for your dog. Find out what you can do without and start a little self-experiment:
- Turn your back to your dog and ask him to sit.
- Or look at the ceiling instead of at him.
- Whisper or chant your command.
- Or do everything as usual, but say another word that makes absolutely no sense in this context, such as e.g. B. “Coffee!”.
- Skip the hand signal and instead raise your arms toward the ceiling or to the side.
- Shout the command to your dog from another room.
How does your dog react? Confused because you’re not looking at him? Does he come running in front of you to make sure? Does he ignore your command?
You get a really interesting sense of what communication involves with such a simple command. And that shows you, above all, what can be the reason if something doesn’t work out in dog training – completely independent of the command “Sit!”.
Then you should check whether your communication is different at one point than it usually is. And thus a “jammer” is built-in, which makes it impossible for your dog to receive your wishes correctly.
This is how you practice staying seated
If your dog reliably sits down at your command, you can practice making him sit until you “release” him:
- Once your dog is sitting, delay the reward a little. Start with a few seconds, especially with very young dogs.
- Then give your resolve command, e.g. B. “OK!” and encourage your dog to get up.
- Your timing is important here: you have to keep a close eye on your dog and sense whether he wants to stand up on his own. And for a tiny moment, you have to anticipate him and take him out of practice.
- Important: Only ever reward sitting, and only when the dog is sitting! Don’t give him a treat for sitting down and getting up on your command, or you’ll create a false shortcut. Your dog should learn that it pays to stay seated.
- Over time, ask yourself to sit longer and longer – and don’t forget your resolution command!
- If that works, you can also take a few steps away, then come back, reward, and dismiss.
- In the beginning, you should maintain the “tension” between the dog and you, i.e. continue to face him and look at him. This way you can also see when the exercise threatens to tip over and your dog wants to stand up on its own. Then you can quickly anticipate him and give the disband command.
Make the exercise a real challenge
As soon as staying seated works and you can move a few meters away from your dog, you can make it a whole lot more challenging:
- In the apartment: leave your dog and go to another room. After a moment, come back and reward your dog.
- Outside: Go around the corner or hide behind a tree. It is important that your dog cannot see you.
It gets really difficult when the incentive for the dog to get up is particularly great, namely during play:
- Let your dog sit, and then throw a toy that your dog likes to fetch. But he has to remain seated and may only start running when you give him the command.
- You need to do this slowly: Don’t throw the toy with force, but casually throw it on the floor. It doesn’t have to fly far either. It is important that your dog is not over-motivated at first – otherwise, the incentive to just start running without a command is too great.
Tip: You can also leash him and put one foot on the end of the leash. That way he can’t run off and reward himself for getting at the toy.
- Only do short training sessions and then let your dog run and play freely again for a few minutes. So he stays with fun in the matter.
Also, practice while moving
Once your dog stays seated as you walk away from him, you can try the next step, which is to make him sit while moving. Practice first without much distraction, preferably in the house or garden.
- Your dog walks alongside you at a slow pace.
- You give your command and stand still for a very short moment until your dog has sat down.
- But be careful not to change your posture. You still keep your upper body facing forward.
- Then you slowly walk a few feet, come back, and praise. The next step would be for you to stop standing and have your dog sit down while you keep walking.
There are many opportunities
You can continue to vary this exercise and increase the level of difficulty: let the dog sit, call the dog to you while walking on so that it has to heel again, let sit again, continue walking… Or let sit, call to you and call the dog to run again stop, dismount, move on. Most dogs love these quick changes. Small dog breeds
Another great exercise that gives the dog confidence in its own abilities is e.g. B. not only to balance on a narrow board but also to sit down there. You can now practice this very easily on an autumn walk if you let your dog walk over a tree trunk and then let him sit on the trunk.
The more reliably you can direct your dog from a distance, the safer you are when you are out and about in the free run. Because you can let a well-behaved dog sit down when called from a distance, for example when joggers or bicycles cross your path – and that’s just exemplary.