How to Teach Your Puppy to Sit

This article is a simple step by step guide to teaching a dog to sit and thereby giving you the basis for further commands such as stay and down.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• a dog
• treats
• some spare time

1. Get in front of your dog (sitting or standing, depending on size) holding a treat in your hand and let the dog see and sniff the treat from a few inches away.

2. Once your dogs attention is on the treat, slowly move the treat over the dogs head towards his/her shoulder blades, but don't let him/her get the treat.

3. As you move your hand further back towards your dogs shoulder blades, he/she should slowly move into the sit position.

4. Once your dog is in the sit position, say sit (once) and reward immediately. Practice 10 to 15 minutes a day split up in 2 to 3 sessions and your dog should learn the command well within a day or 2.

Tips & Warnings

• Never repeat a command, unless you are teaching an ongoing command like "stay".
• Always use healthy treats and adjust your dogs food ration accordingly.
• You can substitute treats for kibble in young puppies.
• The more appealing the treat, the faster the dog will learn.
• If your dog stands on his hind legs instead of sitting, you need to move the treat closer to the dog (It does however give you the opportunity to teach "stand" or "dance").