Lesson three is sit. When you say sit, your dog should immediately move into a sitting position. Take a hold of your dog's collar with one hand and with the other hand or arm depending on the size of your dog, scoop in an upward motion behind the back legs of your dog. This will move your dog into the sit position. Say the sit command while you are doing the motion. As soon as your dog is in the sit position. Use your verbal praise, you can also do tactile or food treats. I prefer the scoop technique because it's a more gentle and effective way to get your dog into the sit position. The dog is unable to offer resistance, which is helpful when you have a dominant or particularly boisterous dog. This is a great command when you want your dog to sit by your side or just sit in one spot for a while.
You can also integrate this into your feeding routine with your dog as well as every time you open the door to let your dog outside to go to the bathroom and certainly every time you take on and off your dog's leash, you would want to require your dog to be in the sit position.
Another easy way to work on this command is to require your dog to sit each time you pet him or her and only continue patting him or her when they are in the sit position. Dogs learn very quickly that the patting stops as soon as they stand up.
For the sit command, we are also going to start out on a collar and leash and your dog can basically be in any position, actually right now Shug is sitting and you can just make sure they move out of that position and you are going to want to say something like look.
Now, he is already anticipated what I am going to do. So I will try it again. Okay, Shug sit, good boy, that's a good boy. You saw, he wagged his tail a little bit and that tells me that this treat that I am giving him verbally is enough for this command. Good boy, you are very good boy. So to get your dog into the sit position, you would simply take the dog's collar in one hand. Okay, Okay, he is already anticipating that I am going to ask him to sit. Come here, good boy, so you have the collar in one hand, and then with the other hand you just scoop under the back legs and say sit and the dog automatically comes into a sit position. What a good boy, what a good boy.
Remember to praise your dog and also check your attitude before starting any training to make sure it's positive, good boy Shug. So let me show that to you again, Okay. Okay. So the dog is in the standing position and you can do this either way, because I am left-handed, it's more comfortable for me in this position. You can have your left hand here on the collar with the dog facing the other way, it doesn't really matter.
So I take the collar in one hand, and then scoop up then under, sit, good boy. That's a good boy. I kind of gave him a verbal and tactile praise. good boy. Now, let's try to command again with another dog. This is Pausch, he is a Shiba Inu, he is almost 14-years-old, Pausch here good boy. So I am going to again take him by the collar and say sit. Good boy, that's a good boy. Good boy. Now, Pausch, knowing Pausch, I knew that he needed more than just a verbal treat. So I gave him the verbal and he immediately followed it up with the tactile scratch on the neck, which I know he likes it, I can see him responding to it.
Pausch, good boy, that's a good boy, let's try that one more time. Okay, Pausch, Pausch. Good boy. Sit, good boy, that's a good boy, good boy Pausch. Okay. Good boy and that's my release word that I use, okay and he is very familiar with that term. I use it everyday, I have him sit, and say before feeding him and then his release word so that he can go ahead and eat his food is okay, so he is familiar with that word and comfortable with it and that was exactly what to do when he hears it.
Basically, he goes back to being a normal dog, doing whatever doggy thing he feels like doing at that time. When working with a larger dog, sometimes getting them into the correct position is a little different, let me demonstrate. Sit, good boy, that's a good, good boy.
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