Cannot get dog to sit

[CourtneyR]

Hi Adrienne,

 

I am struggling with getting my dog to sit. When I follow your hand motions he will just back up and then he gets frustrated and loses focus. When he loses focus he will chase his tail or whine at me because he wants the treat in my hand but continues to back up instead of sit. When I was trying it in my room (away from distractions) he will jump up on my bed and sit and I would use my verbal marker & say sit & then offer the treat but as he kept doing that he related getting on the bed and sitting to receiving a treat (FAIL ON MY PART). I am going to go home after work and work with him some more and I have been praising him for when he does listen to my other commands, like come, stay, kennel, etc. Any other tips...he has did this in the past too when I tried getting him to sit, he was confused...would back up & lose focus.

 

 

 

 

I am desperate to get my pup under control so that I can start socializing him. Hes been very aggressive towards other dogs and I want to be able to control any situation.

 

 

 

 

Thank you,

 

Courtney Sharkey

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Courtney!

Welcome to the forum.

If your dog has a tendency to back up when asked to sit, you can try practicing with your dog standing with his rear facing right next to a wall or large furniture so there is no space to back up. Then, as your dog develops muscle memory and gets a hang of the exercise, you can gradually start moving away from the wall.

 

At times with some dogs, it's a matter of surface. If your dog is sitting readily on the bed, maybe he initallly needs something soft to sit on such as a rug or a blanket on the floor.

 

Another thing you can try since your fellow seems to get frustrated is to split the exercise into smaller steps. Use the food lure slowly in the upwards motion and click/verbally mark initially for his head following the lure just an inch, then a couple of inches and so forth until your dog eventually sits upon looking more and more upwards. Make sure to give a jackpot the moment he actually sits. Repeat several times until the sitting behavior becomes mor fluent. Don't forget to gradually fade the food lure as outlined in the course.

 

Alternatively, you can skip the whole luring thing and just do capturing. Sit down on the couch with a treat pouch on you and during the day observe him when he naturally sits. When he does, be ready to click/verbally mark and toss him a treat. Capture as many natural sits as you can, with time, you should see an increase in the sitting behaviors throughout the day. As they get more frequent, upon seeing him getting ready to sit, say "sit" and then give a jackpot of treats. Repeat several times ultil you can get the sitting behavior on cue.

 

 

Just worthy of pointing out, some dogs have more difficulties sitting than others to sit due to their conformation (dogs with long legs), and for a few others at times it may be that they have hip problems or problems in the spine.

 

I hope this helps! Let me know how it goes,

Adrienne