Teaching The “Sit” Command

Inevitably, teaching the “Sit” command is one of the first things we are tempted to do when we bring a puppy to our home.

We communicate with our dogs through affection, exercise and discipline and through these we build the connection with our dogs. These are the foundation for any form of dog training. I am passionate about psychology of the dog, and primarily concerned for overall balance of the dog which is why I find that it is important to prevent or correct problem behaviors before working with the dog’s capability to learn and respond to most common commands, such as “sit”, “stay”, “come”, “down”, and “heel”.

There is no doubt that the mentioned commands are important in the behavior of a domesticated animal, however, the foundation of communication with the dog is in understanding and applying the idea of pack leadership. Every dog in my pack is raised through use of body language and energy, simple sounds and touch and of course, in such way that it most resembles ways in which a dog communicates most naturally.

Dogs don’t understand words in a literal sense. They don’t understand the word “sit” in ways in which humans do. To an unconditioned dog, “sit” is no different then “lasagna”, yet through conditioning we can help them associate the sound with a particular behavior which then results in a dog who obeys commands.

To successfully teach a new command to a dog you clearly must have your dog’s attention. It is also important that you stop teaching before you lose that attention. The dog should always be kept in a state where they want more of what you are communicating in order for communication to be effective.

You may have seen or experienced a situation where a dong runs away from you or the trainer and starts romping around the yard or the house after the training session. This is not to be interpreted as if the dog is “celebrating their liberation from the annoying trainer”. This is quite literally a way in which the dog is saying “I am overstimulated therefore I am hyperactive”. This, naturally, is even more true for puppies which are in a hyperactive and overstimulated state as it is.

Through your conditioning and leadership your goal should always be to lead the dog into a calm and relaxed, submissive state of mind.

To bring a dog in such state of mind you must show them YOUR calm and assertive energy and you must demonstrate that you are in charge. This behavior on your end will get most dogs to willingly sit and took for direction from you.

To teach a “sit” command you have to take the dog through a process filled with patience, repetition and reward. Generally, I would encourage everyone to teach the “sit” command silently, using energy and body language before adding sound or the word “sit” into the mix.

Have treats ready. When in the process a dog sits, reward them. Every time they repeat the behavior you are seeking for, reward them with a treat.

Some dogs do not respond actively to food as treats. In such cases try a toy, play, belly rub, or something that you know your dog likes.

Do try and avoid too much affection. Command learning is a time when you are exercising discipline and affection is not consistent with discipline.

End your training sessions with a success and then repeat the exercise at a later time.

Not everyone teaches the basic commands like “sit” in the same way. Various trainers have various approaches. Some use the technique refereed to as “clicker training” in which they make a “click” noise in order to acknowledge that the dog performed the desired behavior and then they give the dog a reward.

This training technique leads the dog to associate the click sound with a treat so when they perform a behavior that gets a “click” they desire to keep doing the behavior over and over again. An easy analogy that I heard of that can be applied to this technique is to think of it as if the “clicker” is a camera and when the dog does what you intended the “click” is the moment when you capture the image of the behavior.

In all of this, it is most important that you practice patience, that you are not too hard on yourself NOR THE DOG and that you understand that everyone, human and canine, learns at a different time and pace. Also remember that every second of the time you spend with your dog, filled with patience that you put it will greatly help in building the bind between you and the dog for many years ahead of you.