How To Teach Your Dog To Sit

The first thing you should do is train your dog to sit.  Sitting is the basis and starting point for many of the other commands so you must make sure that your dog has this down perfectly before you move on to anything else. 

One of the keys to training is to try to get your dog to do the desired behavior on his own.  Once you do, you simply reward him.  At first, of course, he will have no clue why he's getting his reward but eventually he'll start to associate the behavior with the reward and the command that you were saying.


Here's how it works on teaching your dog to sit:

1.  Have you dog's favorite treat in your hand.  Your dog will probably be standing in front of you eagerly awaiting you to hand them to treat but instead of handing him the treat move it above his head from the front to the back.

2.  His eyes will naturally follow the treat and this will actually cause him to sit down.

3.  When you see the dog sitting - I mean as soon as you see his legs bending for the sit - say the command "sit" and once he does give them the treat and pet him and praise him profusely.

4.  Keep repeating this procedure until the dog sits on his own when you give the command.  This could take minutes, days or weeks but you must be persistent and consistent.

In some cases, the dog may back up instead of sitting so if you your dog tends to do this, you might want to do the training so that his backend is against the wall which will prohibit him from backing up.

Always remember to say the "sit" command in a firm tone.  Don't yell -  just say it firmly and always say it the same so your dog does not get confused.