The Magic Sit: How to Teach your Dog to Sit and Settle

 

I want to talk about today, which is magic. Sit.

And I also call it sit to say please. And basically what we're going to teach your dog is a good way to beg.

So right now, your dog may beg for things he wants by jumping up, pawing at you, barking at you.

Sometimes they steal stuff and run away with it to get attention.

And so what I want to do is teach your dog, hey, if you want something, try sitting.

And once they get that, you're going to have a much easier time with lots of things like those annoying behaviors like jumping and barking.

And it's going to be easier to put your leash on to go out and it's going to be easier to greet people without jumping.

So the first thing you need to do, like I bet you would guess, is teach your dog to sit.

And I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on the basics of Sit.

I recommend the Kikopup YouTube or Zach George. And you want to use rewards only, no corrections or pushing the butt down or pulling a leash up or anything like that.

Usually you want to use a treat lure. To start, you put that treat to your dog's nose, draw a line up between their ears, and that usually causes them to sit.

Then you can mark the behavior with a yes or a click and feed a treat.

And once you've got it going, an easy situation with a few lures, you're going to drop that lure.

So no more food in your hand doing that motion.

Now it becomes a hand signal and then you give your verbal cue sit, hand signal motion, yes or click when the butt hits the floor and feed.

So you want to practice that in a lot of different situations, starting really easy at first and if your dog doesn't get it, there's no correction needed.

You just make it easier, make your treat better if it's too distracting and you go slow.

So start inside, then outside in easy situations. Once you've got some, your dog's getting the sit.

In most situations, you're ready to start using it for the magic sit.

So what you first want to do is practice the sit a few times like normal.

So you're asking your dog to sit and toss a treat between each repetition so they get up to go get the treat, and then you can keep getting some repetitions.

Right now, pause before you ask and see if your dog will offer the sit. We'll just guess it.

If your dog guesses to sit, then you yes, or click and feed again by tossing.

If your dog doesn't guess it after you pause, say, 3 to 5 seconds, you can cue it again, but I bet your dog will start guessing once your dog starts guessing.

Now I want you to try playing some more games around it, like hold a toy up, see if your dog will sit, and then give your dog the toy without you asking.

Hold a treat up, see if your dog will sit. Give your dog the treat. So your dog is learning.

Oh, I want something I should sit.

And that's what we're looking for.

Okay, so now he's got the basics. We're going to start getting fancy and you're going to start running around a little bit. Pause, see if your dog guesses your sit. Hold the toy a little bit more excited.

How about if your dog is behind a gate?

You wait to walk forward until your dog sits or your dog wants the leash.

Wait for the sit. If your dog doesn't sit when you're pausing, just cue it. All right, so give your dog a moment to guess. Take your time.

Use doorways, leash, food bowl, getting in and out of the car.

Then practice, say, knocking on the door, pretending there's a guest.

So you're making the knock sound or the doorbell sound. See if your dog will guess sitting. If not, cue it. So all of these exciting things or things your dog wants are now cues, basically environmental cues to sit.

Now you can practice with greeting people. It really works to have your dog restrained in some way so they can't jump on you. And what you do is have that dog behind a gate or on a leash.

Approach if your dog sits.

I mean, stand still if your dog sits, approach. And if you're the handler and someone's approaching your dog, you would do the feeding for your dog sitting.

If your dog stands up, the person goes away again. And this works also getting out of the crate coming in of the door, coming inside. So whatever your dog thing to do.

See if you'll offer a sit first.

So pause for a moment, see if a sit happens then yes. And give them the thing they want. Okay.

So I think you will really love the results if you work on the magic sit or the sit to say please and thanks for listening.

Have a great day. Bye.