How To Train A Dog To Sit

This video by K9-1.com is a very effective, concise and easy-to-understand tutorial on how to train a dog to sit. It showcases the best steps and tips to teach a dog to understand the sit command the right way. The video is divided into important portions, starting with how to lower a dog into position by using treats, then weaning off the use of hand signals… up to simply utilizing only your voice for executing the command.

The video presents an actual training wherein a female dog trainer helps a dog to learn the sit command using a step-by-step process. You can also notice in the video that the dog sometimes acts in unpredicted ways and this makes everything easier to understand because anyone can relate to it in real life. Dogs are not perfect and they might wander or act unpredictably but a good trainer knows how to handle the situation and adjust in order to complete the training process.

Important takeaways from the video include making sure that you don’t make other unnecessary body movements that could confuse your dog. Your body should remain neutral when commanding your dog in order to make it independent from any body language and simply rely on your voice command by the end of the training session.

Timing is essential, so it’s very important that you reward your dog as soon as it obeys the command. As soon as the dog sits, you have to say “good boy” immediately and the reward must follow accordingly as well.

One of the most common mistakes is that some people tend to give the reward late which leads to the dog standing up to reach the treat. This will not help the dog to learn the sit command. It will confuse the sit command with the stand command. You have to take note that your dog must properly distinguish the difference between these two commands.

In terms of the reward system, in real life, you won’t always have a treat ready to give your dog at all times. You can improve this from enhancing the repetition of the rewards. At first, you reward your dog every time it follows your sit command. Eventually, you can reward it after a number of repetitions. This will still keep the dog interested and think that maybe this time it will get the reward. Your dog will have a mindset that as long as it keeps following the command, it will get rewarded.

Overall, the reward system plays an important role in training dogs but in the end, you have to keep in mind that effective dog training is a reflection of proper execution, right timing and clear communication between you and your dog.

The very clear steps and the actual dog training make this video one, if not the best, videos on how to train a dog to sit.

Photo – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcjn8v5nfDU