10/03/2022
Five steps to teach your dog to sit, every time you ask it to
1. Use your dog’s meal times to teach the sit
A good time to practice the sit with a young or an old dog is around meal times. I start with the food bowl in one hand and with the flat palm of my hand facing the dog, so I am standing above the dog and it’s looking up at me. Usually, when the dog sees the food bowl, it will naturally lower itself into the seated position. And, as soon as he or she does this, I say the command ‘sit’.
Next, I take a piece of kibble from the bowl and reward the dog, then I repeat this process two to three times. Once I am happy the dog is waiting and pausing before he or she gets the reward, I move on to stage two.
2. If your dog sits nicely, send it towards the food bowl
The dog is asked to sit as in stage one. The food bowl is then placed on the floor, but you will have to have good timing if the dog decides to move before you tell it to. Once the dog is sitting for a period of time in a calm and relaxed manner, give the ‘ok’ or ‘fetch’ command, as a way of releasing your dog from the sit position and allowing it to eat its food from the bowl as a reward for sitting patiently when asked.
3. What if the dog will not sit and keeps moving towards the food?
As soon as the dog moves out of the sit position towards the food, stop the dog by putting one hand on its chest and one hand on its collar, and giving the ‘sit’ command. Then release your hand and, if the dog moves, hold on to it once more. The dog will soon start to realise that, if it moves, it will not get the food reward.
Credit: Ben Randall
4. Ask your dog to sit and stay while you do something else
Once the sit and the patience is starting to sink in with your dog, ask him or her to sit quietly in an area within the room whilst you prepare their food. Place the food down on the floor in the usual place where you feed your dog. Once the food is on the floor, continue clearing up or putting the kettle on and gradually increase the period of time that you ask your dog to sit and wait before sending it for its food.
Once you are happy that your dog is sitting patiently for its food, and a good period of time has passed, walk towards your dog and reward him/her with the fetch command (or, in other words, go and eat your food!).
One of the key things with this exercise is that all the dog’s enjoyment and reward is coming from you, which will help to build a stronger bond, trust and better partnership.
5. Do this exercise in the garden, too
Once steps 1-4 are fully established, use the lighter mornings and nights in the spring and summer to practice this outside, so the dog gets used to doing it inside and out in multiple different environments.
