How The Sit Command Progresses

STEP ONE -Lure dog into a sit - NO COMMAND - you’re just trying to get the behavior.

1) Have the dog standing in front of you. Hold the food or toy lure above the dogs head , between his ears and encourage the dog to sit by himself. Slowly move the lure back between his ears so he has to look up. This should cause him to drop his butt into a sit for you. USE NO COMMAND.

2) The INSTANT (not before or after) his butt touches the ground, "CLICK, Praise and TREAT." Timing is VERY IMPORTANT at this point. If you click too soon or too late, he won’t associate the sound of the click with the sit he just gave you.

Stay on this step until the dog in giving you a sit every time you hold the lure over his head. If he has figured out the click and treat thing he will be eager to sit to get you to C/T him. That is just what you want to happen.

STEP TWO - Lure dog into sit and add the cue word "SIT" - the KEY here is "CUE" not "COMMAND"

1) With the dog standing, hold the food or toy lure above the dogs head as before - only this time have your palm up with the food lure held by your thumb and index finger. This is the beginning of the sit hand signal.

2) As the dog lowers his butt to the floor say "SIT" (Say the word as he lowers his butt -- not before or after, but as the butt goes down and just before it touches the ground) This is not a command, it is "information" for the dog. What you are doing is associating the sound of the word with the behavior he is giving you. With practice he will associate the word "SIT" with putting his butt on the ground.

3) The INSTANT his butt touches the ground, "CLICK and TREAT" and say "GOOD SIT."

4) Pet and Praise. When you praise with "good sit" you are reinforcing the behavior he just gave you with the word "Sit" again.

STEP THREE - Begin to fade the lure. Have treats in your pocket this time.

1) Proceed as above but this time have the treat lure in your hand every other time you sit your dog. At those times you don’t have a food lure in your hand, let your dog see you take the treat from your pocket to give to him after you click and praise. Your are still treating EVERY time he sits.

2) Hold your hand in the "lure position" above his head either with or without the lure in it.

3) Continue as in step 2, saying the "Cue" word as he lowers his butt into a sit.

4) The INSTANT his butt touches the ground, "CLICK" and either give him the "TREAT" in your hand or take a treat out of your pocket and give it to him and say "GOOD SIT."

5) Pet and Praise.

NOTE: By the end of step Three the dog should be sitting on the cue word "sit." You should be able to stop using the clicker, but not the treats and praise. In fact, now you want to really increase the praise so that it overshadows the treats. If your dog is not responding to the cue word 100% of the time, go back and practice step two and three some more before eliminating the clicker.

STEP FOUR - No lure this time - only use Cue word and the Hand Signal.

1) With dog standing, give him the hand signal (hand held with palm up) and say the cue word "SIT."

2) The INSTANT his butt touches the ground, Praise and take a treat out of your pocket to give him. Be sure to say "GOOD SIT." Lots of Hugs and Praise at this point and he won’t even realize you didn’t click.

Go to the the " next page" to continue the Sit Command and learn the Stand Command. If you want, you can use the page numbers below to move back and forth between the sit command pages.

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