Teaching Your Puppy Sit & Stay

Teaching your puppy to sit, is one of the most important dog training techniques you can teach him. Teaching your puppy sit will help him master the basic dog training skills and develop a good behavior pattern. OK…there’s it. The fastest ways to train your puppy to sit, stand, and wait. The key is repetition, training, and positive reinforcement.

Please remember the age of your dog. Puppies are curious animals and they like to learn new things. The first step in training is understanding that dogs use the sit command to express their pleasure, hunger, or boredom. Dogs give off signals by looking at you, making sounds, sniffing the ground, or just by looking at you. The main goal is to get your dog to understand that if they do this to you they will get a treat…usually a toy.

Here’s the first step in how to teach a dog to sit. With your puppy on a leash, give the command for him to sit and be sure to hold the leash securely. Your dog should move forward until he feels like he has reached his destination. If he doesn’t, say “good sit” and give him the treat. Don’t yell at him. He may see this as aggression and may start to fear you again.

Next, with the dog on a leash, move forward and bring the dog’s nose to your groin. You want to simulate the food lure you used in the previous lesson. Give the treat and praise when your dog does sit. This is a great way to reinforce the sitting habit.

I recommend you always have a treat ready when teaching puppies treats. That way you can offer your puppy a treat when he has followed the instructions and followed your commands. Using treats like puppy chocolate candies and other things is good because you can use them on command without yelling at your puppy.

Make training sessions short but enjoyable. Try to do it once a day. Keep the sessions under ten minutes so your puppy can memorize what you are trying to teach him. Also make sure you always use the same words or phrases when using the reward system. Use lots of positive praise and rewards.

Once your puppy has learned the sit command, step back from the dog. Now give the command for him to sit and take one step back until he has reached a comfortable distance from you. You can tell him to sit when he reaches one step back. Your puppy will soon realize that if he is going to get a treat he needs to step back in order to receive his reward.

If your puppy misbehaves in July, don’t give up. Training your puppy can take time and practice. With some patience and hard work you will finally have a well trained dog. August is just around the corner!

One method to teach him to sit involves using the hand signal “stay” combined with your body motion such as a beckoning gesture. You should use this method under direct supervision of an adult. Hold your dog’s attention while asking him to sit. Let him know that you will reward him if he stays in the sitting position.

Let him find a comfortable spot to sit next to you on the sofa or on your bed. When he becomes uncomfortable with his spot, entice him by changing the command to “sit.” You can now slowly lift your leg up so his backside is facing you and ask him to sit. As he becomes more comfortable, slowly lift your leg up again and ask him to sit again. Continue this technique until he has gotten the idea that whenever you say “sit,” he should sit.

After your puppy has consistently followed your instruction, you may want to teach him another behavior. You can begin by giving him a treat. Whenever he obeys your command to “sit,” give him a treat. As he continues to learn to obey your commands, you can increase the treat and praise him for staying calm even when there are treats involved.

The final step to teaching your puppy the sit-stay-fetch technique involves patience. You will probably have to train your puppy to stay over a period of weeks before he understands how to behave properly. If you want to speed things up, you can simply begin by having him sit when calling. Whenever he sits, immediately take him to his spot and praise him. Praise him until he understands what you want. Then, gradually remove the treats.