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Friday, 17 August 2012

How to teach a dog to sit

By Jerry Welsh


Obedience training is one good way of establishing leadership over the dog. Dogs need to have a leader to follow to be good canine citizens. Dogs are pack animals thus they need to know their rank in the pack otherwise they will be confused and develop unwanted behaviors. Lack obedience training is one of the common reasons why they end up in animal shelters.

Most dog owners find training the pet a daunting task but having a dog that can do tricks will certainly be a gratifying achievement. Sitting is an inherent skill of dogs thus owners should not find teaching the pet to respond to the sit command a difficult task. The dog owner's task is to train the dog to sit when the sit command is given

It is not necessary to teach the dog to sit as sitting is a natural act of canines but a dog owner has to make the pet understand what the word sit means. Your task is to introduce the word to the pet by saying sit every time the dog flops on its rear end. Being intelligent creatures, the word will be associated by the dog to the action. Because dogs have very short attention spans they get easily distracted. To get the dog focused on the training, sessions must be short and conducted in an area with few distractions. Arm yourself with a bagful of the dog's favorite treats that will be used as positive reinforcement.

Dogs are noticed to respond eagerly to training if they have bonded with the master before a training session as their inherent eagerness to please comes out. In a clear voice, call the dog's name to gain its attention. Get the dog's attention by waving a hand holding its favorite treat. The pet will be forced to sit by holding the treat over its head. Be sure not to hold the treat too high lest it makes the dog jump. Give the sit command before the dog sat to get the treat. Reward the dog with a treat as soon as it sat down. Because dogs learn by association, the reward will be associated to doing the particular action.

Patience and positive attitude is the key to a successful training. Short training sessions conducted about three times a day will make the dog respond to the command even without a treat.




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