Train Your Dog to Sit

Learning the Sit command is important for a number of reasons. For one, it allows you to control your dog in a situation where he/she might get hurt if they don't stay where they are. It is also a good command to help stimulate your dog mentally. By nature dogs love to please, and they seek leadership, by going through the Sit command on a daily basis you are providing your dog with leadership and stimulating him/her mentally.

In order to train your dog you need to mentally prepare yourself by being, calm, and assertive. Our dogs read our emotions and sense our weaknesses, unless you can demonstrate yourself as leader don't expect your pooch to listen to you.

Sit is one of the easier commands to teach, and usually the first one that you should teach.

Dog Sit Training Technique 

Put together a number of your dog's favorite treats and take your dog to a quiet place where the two of you can work with minimal distraction. Hold a treat in your fingertips and put it above your dog's head and say Sit in a calm, firm voice. No matter what your dog does, do not give him the treat until he sits. Sometimes you may need to bring the treat over his head mid-body, so that when he follows the treat with his eyes he puts his body into the sitting position to see the treat. At the first moment your dog's behind hits the ground say "Good Girl/Boy,"  and give him/her the treat. Repeat this exercise several times until your dog sits each and everytime upon hearing the word. Some dogs learn this on the first day. Others may take a few days of practice. Limit the training sessions to 15 minutes, you don't want to bore the dog. The goal is to keep them mentally stimulated.

Now, once your dog has successfully sat down each time with a treat in your hand try asking your dog to sit without the treat. If they do not sit, put the treat in your hand and repeat. However, this time when they do sit do not give them the treat, simply offer up praise, and affection. Then the next time you say Sit, give them the treat. Making treat giving random. This will make your dog more likely to comply as he/she will not know when they will receive a treat for obeying, and it makes the training that much more intriguing for them.