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Hi there, Welcome to the forums, Let's do some troubleshooting. -Is your dog small? You can try to sit down on the couch and practice from there. Some small dogs are wary of feet (they may have been tripped over at some time or are just wary), other small dogs may not feel too comfortable when we loom over them from a standing position, so if we sit on the couch with the dog on the floor nearby, we are more comfortable and the dog may feel more comfortable too. -Are you using smelly treats? Sometimes using something that smells super good will motivate them more to follow your hand. -Are you moving your hand too fast? Try to move your hand slower having your dog follow with her her nose. -Try to take baby steps so she gets the concept that she must follow the treat in order to have it. For example, let her sniff the treat and let her have it. Then let her glance at it for a little bit it and let her have it, then let move the treat from her nose a little upward and let her have it, then a little more and let her have it, then try a little more until you have her following it with more confidence up to getting her to sit. -If you're a visual learner, take a look at this short video to make sure you are holding the treat and doing the hand motion correctly: --Try to stay relaxed and hide any frustration. Think of it as a game and don't feel pressured. With some pups, slow and steady wins the race, but once they grasp the concept, it tends to stick! -if you are still struggling, no worries! We can still train your dog to sit using capturing. Capturing is a training method where we reinforce spontaneous behaviors. In other words, wait for your dog to sit on her own. When she does, say "yes!" and toss a treat so to "reset" her. Then wait again for another sit and say "yes!" and toss a treat. Rinse and repeat several times. At some point, start saying sit, just before she sits and see if that evokes the behavior. If it does, say yes! and give a jackpot of treats (several small pieces of treats). Let me know how it goes! Best, Adrienne

Target opens a world of possibilities! It is often used in service-dog training as dogs turn on things, pull stuff, grab things, it can be used to train a variety of brain games and tricks (play the piano, shell game, hot and cold etc. Here you can see Einstein turning on a light: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-turn-on-a-light/ I also use hand targeting in behavior modification to create positive associations with people's hands, to distract a dog who is getting a bit anxious or to get a fearful dog to stop focusing on something on walks.

Once they know target you can teach them all sorts of things, from practical to frivolous. I taught Gertrude how to open the baby gate for me when my hands are full, she also knows the difference between her bone, carrot, and duck toys. It's how I taught Momo to jump up. The idea there was to eventually get him to balance on his hind legs, but his arthritis settled in before we completed that training. Some people have taught their dogs to clean up their toys. Gertie rings a bell when she needs to go potty. Momo will give me a "kiss" (he punches me with his nose, lol). I Almost trained Mo to bring his bowl to me, but mostly he flips it up in the air or scoots it with his nose. They can be taught to push the handicap button if a door is equipped with one. It's largely up to the imagination because these guys can do so many things. Border Collie / Jack Russell?! How on earth did That happen?! :D I'd love to see a picture of those two breeds mixed.

I can share insight as to the phrase you use and that's, use whatever works for you. The benefit to using a more common phrase is that other people will already know how to "talk" to your dog, but ultimately you're the one who needs to communicate so if touch works better than target, go with touch. For example, I have a friend who asked Momo for "paw." Momo looked at me as though to ask, "who is this guy?" When I told my friend Mo knows shake and high five, everyone was on the same page. My behavioral trainer kept using the word "free" for Momo, but I trained him with "break" so she had to catch herself numerous times. :D Momo also knows "okay" and the hand motion you would use as though to invite someone to go ahead of you. I say that to illustrate how smart these pooches are. She even went so far as to say, Oklahoma, Okra, Oh yay, and several other words starting with an O and he held fast until she said, "Okay." I personally use "touch" myself. I tend to stick with monosyllabic words because someone long ago told me they do better with single syllables and they're easier to say quickly, which can be fun for a game of Sit Down Up where I rapid fire the words and they follow through (some days better than others!).