HOLY "SIT"

Ok, let's get serious. Today, simply, we are teaching your dog to "sit", but there's a little more to it than that. Like I said previously, all dogs sit, so why would we teach them something they already know? Because we want them to sit when WE want them to, even with distractions like running, squeaking squirrels, and we want them to STAY sitting until we release them to get up. Last blog we covered building attention and sustaining eye contact and developing a release cue. Those three things must be in place before beginning the "sit" cue. We want our dogs to understand a verbal cue, and a hand signal cue for the "sit".

LURING: Luring is one, very powerful way to teach your dog to sit. What is a lure? A lure is taking a piece of desired food, or a toy, and using it to guide the dog into the correct position. This is a quick, powerful way to teach new cues. Keep in mind, eventually understanding how to "fade" the lure, and switch to a "reward" system is of extreme importance. We eventually want to get the "lure" out of the picture asap. When the dog can perform "sit" 80% of the time, it's time to fade the lure. This simply means that he should understand the vocal cue and hand signal for "sit", with NO FOOD present. However, AFTER the dog chooses to "sit", we will still produce a "reward". Eventually, reward will be varied, so it's unpredictable, and thus, most exciting for the dog. He'll "gamble", so to speak. Let's begin to "lure"into the sit position.

First, take an extremely yummy treat that your dog would die for.

Next, put the treat directly at your dog's nose, and lift it slowly into the air DIRECTLY above your dogs nose.

NOTE: If he does not sit, take a step towards the dog. This will move the treat up and back over the dog's head a little more. You need to be extremely close to your dog in the beginning. The reason he "sits" is because the food goes up and out of sight. He must back up, or "sit" in order to see the treat! If he keeps backing up, do not reward. DO NOT SAY NO OR SCOLD HIM OR PUSH HIS REAR END DOWN. Backing up won't ever get him the reward, so eventually, he'll try another behavior, like "sit". You may also practice with your dog's back to a couch or a wall, so that he can't back up. Think of it like a fun puzzle that your dog has to figure out. When he gets the correct answer, "sit", he'll receive the reward. Continue to bring the treat up over his head, and eventually up to your eyes. Keep in mind, this is a "sit" for a pet dog, not for competitive obedience. A competitive sit is taught differently, with a slightly different hand signal.

Now your dog is sitting, and your hand is up at your face. I have my clients bring the treat up to their face/ eyes, to create eye contact. If you just hold your hand out in space, it's not as desired as your dog staring into your eyes! The FULL hand signal should be paired with the word "sit" along with your dog's name. The entire cue sounds like: "Roxy, sit". Remember from the previous blog, we needed to create attention when you said your dog's name? Well, now, you use the name to get the "attention", and then we can say, "sit" along with the hand signal of bringing the food from THE DOG'S NOSE, TO YOUR OWN NOSE. It's very simple to remember!

Now, as SOON as your dog's rear end hits the floor, you must pop the lure directly into his little cute mouth!! He may be so excited that he gets up and does a dance. Well, for the first few times this is ok, but only for the first few times! We need him to understand that it's actually MORE VALUABLE for him to REMAIN sitting, than it is to get up. If he remains sitting, we'll pop a treat every second for the first day of training! This really creates an attentive "sit", and it's actually HARD to get your dog to come OUT of the sit position! Most people are trying to get their dogs to sit, when the goal should be trying to pull them up from the sit position (the most REWARDING and FUN position to be in, because it brings me treat after treat!) Cues need to be the most FUN, EXCITING and VALUABLE thing your dog does. If chasing squirrels is more fun than sitting, then your dog will choose the squirrels. My dogs choose sit. It's up to you! Training with enthusiasm creates an enthusiastic dog!

OK, let's discuss HOW to properly treat. Your dog just sat. You just immediately popped a treat into his cute, salivating mouth. What should you be saying?? Good question! Say "good sit" as you pop the treat. Then, bring your "hand signal" back up to your face. If he sustains eye contact AND remains SITTING, pop another treat with a "GOOOOD sit". He should now be wanting to STARE into your eyes because THIS BEHAVIOR OF SITTING PLUS LOOKING INTO YOUR EYES PRODUCES TREMENDOUS REWARDS. Do not think that dominating your dog or shoving his rear end down to the floor is a better method, it's just a different method. Science has now proven that dogs will always choose the most rewarding behavior. Is shoving your dog's rear to the floor rewarding? Remember, police dogs, search dogs and guide dogs, agility dogs, movie dogs are ALL TRAINED WITH POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. Keep this flow of treats coming for the sit plus sustained eye contact. Then, release with an "OK". We developed the OK (release cue) in the previous blog. Most dogs will NOT want to get up at this point, and they'll CHOOSE to remain sitting. NOPE! You MUST get them UP AND OUT OF THE SIT POSITION WHEN YOU SAY THE WORD "OK". This is extremely important! "Sit" has a beginning (the cue), a middle (the behavior + reward) and an END ("OK" = you may get up now). The dog MUST get up when you say OK. If he doesn't, add a gentle leash guidance (NOT A CORRECTION), just simply guide the dog up to release him from "sit". To get the point across, you may also toss a treat the first few times as you say "OK". He will break the "sit" to chase the treat as you say, "OK". If the dog understands the there's an "end" to the "sit", he'll be more likely to want to sit. If he thinks there's no end in sight, he'll be less likely to want to sit. Eventually "sit" can mean a chance to go see another dog, cross a door boundary, exit the car, etc... and these are all things we'll discuss in the next blog!

NOW, every time your dog sits, he must be released!

What to do if your dog gets up before you release him? Another great question. For NOW..... FOR NOW and only NOW, simply walk away. Put the treats away. Try again in a few minutes. The dog just lost his chance to earn more treats! He "released" himself from school (sit position) so he missed his opportunity! It's too early in training to say, "NO" or correct, even mildly in any way. We are simply teaching him that the way to more rewards is to remain sitting..... BUT DO NOT MAKE HIM SIT ALL DAY LONG. In the beginning, your release should come quickly, after 5 or 6 treats. And sometimes after one sit and treat, you may release. The key is to keep rewards varied so the dog sees the game as interesting and unpredictable! IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO TREAT AND RELEASE BEFORE YOUR DOG LOSES ATTENTION!!! There will be more ways down the road, but for NOW, if your dog releases himself, or if you can't get him to "sit", then walk away and try again later. This is a great rule! It's actually called "no reward". Sometimes I even develop a word for "no reward". Eventually, this can be "no", or "uh- uh"..... and the dog will soon understand that he lost his opportunity for the delicious treat. "NO REWARD" is like telling a child, "you didn't do your homework, so NO ice cream, sorry!" It's really very powerful!

Today, we covered how to LURE into the "SIT" position. REWARD for SUSTAINED EYE CONTACT, and RELEASE your dog from the sit position. This is just barely scratching the surface of the "SIT" guys! I'm going to get REALLY detailed in the next blog, covering using TOY as reward and motivation, adding in DISTRACTIONS (such as other dogs, dropping food) and alternative ways to teach the sit. We'll also cover FADING THE LURE and moving to a system of REWARDS instead of lures. We'll also cover how to properly use your VOICE. LURING is ONE way of teaching a command... can you think of another way? We'll cover that in the next blog! It's actually called OFFERING, and we will be talking a lot about it! We are going to cover using the "sit" to earn life rewards such as freedom!! Oh just you wait. I could write a whole book on the perfect sit. If you master these techniques, gradually building one concept upon another, YOU may become a great trainer! I'm sure you already are if you made it this far into the blog... so CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

--The Behavior Savior