teaching ben to sit

[Julie Marie]

hi folks, am trying to teach my 8 week old blue roan dog to sit for a treat. am getting there but he seems a tad confused. is there an easy way to do it?

am also having difficulties with making him do his stuff in the same place on the patio. have little gifts all over my new lawn where the kids play - yuk!!

thanks julie                      

[KellyP]

Hi Julie,

sit - easy  

Get a nice tasty treat (chicken was a sure fire thing with Millie). Get him to stand infront of you and make sure he knows you have the treat.
hold the treat just in front of and above him - move the treat backwards over the top of his head and say "sit" at the same time. because of the way dogs are made (bones and muscles wise) it should cause him to sit down in order to keep looking at the treat.
the moment his bum touches the floor say "yes" or "good boy" and then give him the treat. yes is quite good because its short and it bridges the gap between the behaviour you are trying to re-inforce and the treat he is getting - puppies have short attention spans  


as for the puppy pressies, hmm the best thing is to try and watch him when he goes out - when he is in the area you want him to "perform" in plenty of gentle praise and encourage using whatever word you have picked for this delicate task (I use "be clean" - and when Millie performs its "yes clean girl"     ) - hopefully by encouraging him in the right place it should become more "natural" (?) for him to "go" there. If you spo him going where he shouldn't, hmm, perhaps you could say "no" and move him (if you can!!) to where you want him to go and encourage him to finish off there.
What does anyone else think of stopping unwanted puppy pressies? - it never bothered me much as long as it wasn't in the house, which it never was! aren't I lucky?    

I hope all of that made sense!!                      

[Julie Marie]

wow thanks for the advice. i wish they had web sites like these for dealing with kids. they drive me bonkers!!! since posting the sitting question a few hours ago benny is getting the hang of it already!! he sits for a treat.

the problem re going to the loo is that i am not always in garden with him when he goes. still at least he arrived house trained at eight weeks (thanks to nicki from kadreem).

thanks again                      

[LeeC]

Julie

There is a non-treat method that you might like to try, which we learned at dog obedience:

1. kneel down to the right of ben;
2. place your right hand on his chest and your left hand on his back over his back legs;
3. then say 'sit' as you place downward pressure with your left hand and upward pressure with the right.

Be careful not to squeeze him with your right hand as puppies kidneys can be easily damaged

Only say 'sit' once as dogs can count!

Once he has mastered this you can then progress to getting him to drop.

I hope this makes sense!                    

[Julie Marie]

yes it does make sense, thanks. will try it this morning                      

[Gilly]

the problem re going to the loo is that i am not always in garden with him when he goes. still at least he arrived house trained at eight weeks (thanks to nicki from kadreem).

Hiya Julie,

I would always stay with Benny in the garden at this age....young puppies are notoriuos for finding things they shouldn't eat...no matter how hard we try to make sure things are out of the way...also that way when he "performs" you will be there to make a big fuss of him....i found using a certain phrase over and over encouraged Butty to go and now when i open the door and let her out and say the phrase she performs immediately...this can be a godsend when it's pouring with rain

Gilly                    

[Karen]

Have to agree with Gilly - a phrase used only for going to the loo is a sure fire way of getting them to go when you want them to go. They know what you want them to do and if you need them to go pee quick they'll go do it instead of farting about the garden! I've always said 'quick quick' and it does the trick - especially if like Gilly says it's tipping with rain etc.                    

[Mary]

Mmmmm....I have a phrase when I want Lottie to go but when it's raining she takes one look outside the backdoor and she just turns straight back in                    

[taliska]

Taliskas getting pretty good at going in the garden and we don't have many accidents - unless its raining, he goes out takes one look and promptly comes back in and wees on the floor...

We had him in July and I guess it hasn't rained much so hes just not used to it, will have to be cruel and go out and shut the door next time until he does the bus!!