The Basic Sit

When we talk of "teaching the dog to sit" we really mean that we are teaching the dog to sit when we want them to sit. Every dog knows how to sit. There are two basic ways to teach a sit – capturing and luring. You can also free shape a sit, but I usually reserve that for special cases, such as retired racing greyhounds which have often been punished for sitting.

Capturing a Sit
This is very easy to do and my favorite way to teach sit; its simple and has a special side benefit. Get some treats and your clicker, sit yourself down and watch your dog. At some point the dog will sit on its own, you click, and immediately follow with a treat. Chances are the moment you click the dog will stand up, especially if she already knows what click means. That's okay, just hand over that treat and go back to waiting. Every time you see your dog sit, click and treat. Very soon your dog will realize that sitting pays. Then your dog will start sitting on purpose to make you click and treat.

          This is a very special moment. Your dog has just made the leap
          from casually happening to sit, to consciously choosing to sit.
          Your dog has just become "operant". An operant dog realizes
          they have the ability to make good things happen. Operant dogs
          are more confident than they would be otherwise and they
          participate in training as a willing teammate. Non-operant dogs
          (including all dogs trained with methods that feature punishment
          as standard fare) don't have the understanding that they can
          make good stuff happen.  Non-operant dogs  participate in
          training because training is something that is done "to" them
          and to avoid bad stuff.

When you are willing to bet $10 that your dog is going to sit right now, you can start adding the cue. See the section on adding a cue below.

Luring a Sit
Many people teach their dog to sit by luring and it has one distinct advantage – the luring motion to get the sit behavior, becomes the hand signal for the sit. The drawbacks are that you miss the opportunity for your dog to become operant, you risk becoming dependent on luring and you have to work through moving your hand away from the dog's nose.  Also, the things you have to do with your hands (to avoid becoming lure dependent), while not awkward, can be confusing.

The first step is to hold a treat in your left hand and the clicker in your right.  You can certainly reverse your hands (treat in right hand and clicker in left hand), but you'll have to reverse these directions.  Hold the treat just in front of your dog's nose, then gradually move the treat slightly up and to the back of the dog's head. Gradual is important, since you want the dog to follow the treat with his nose. As his nose tips up and back, his rump will go down into a sit or near sit. Click that sit and give the treat. Repeat this luring motion with treat in your hand and click/treat – for a total of five times.

Troubleshooting:  If your dog lifts its front feet up, you are raising your hand too much. If he doesn't follow the treat with his nose, you are probably going too fast.  If your dog seems especially resistant to sitting, you may have to break this into pieces and start by clicking for him lowering his rump and then ask for more and more in each repetition until the rump hits the ground.

Now its time to get the food out of your luring (left) hand. Hold the treat and clicker in your right hand and lure with the left hand that just had food half a minute before and still smells like food. When the dog sits, click. Then very quickly and smoothly use your right hand to deliver the treat into your left hand, without the left hand moving away from the dog, and then give the treat to the dog from the luring left hand. Repeat this process – for a total of five times.

Now you can repeat this again using an empty luring hand, holding clicker and treats in the right hand. Do the luring motion, as the dog sits, click and then use the left hand to take the treat from the right and give it to the dog. Repeat 5-10 times.

Troubleshooting:  If your dog tries to follow the luring hand as it moves away to get treats from the othe rhand, try moving more quickly.  If that doesn't work, your right hand may have to meet the left hand halfway to start with.

If your dog is reliably and smoothly sitting when you make the luring motion, its time to begin fading the proximity of the hand signal by moving it gradually away from the dog. Instead of having your fingers an inch from the dog's nose, try two inches, then four. When you can cue the sit with a hand signal from two feet away, its time to add a verbal cue. Hand signals are nice and they certainly look cool, but it does require your dog to be looking at you.

Adding a verbal cue
Adding verbal cues is a process that follows the same pattern every time. The more behaviors you add cues to, the quicker your dog will learn verbal cues each time.  To begin with, you will do each step 15 – 30 times, depending on how quickly your dog demonstrates understanding. Later you can do less repetitions per step. For an experienced dog, you may only do 5 repetitions per step. For a very experienced dog, it may be only 5 repetitions altogether. Remember to click/treat for every repetition.

1. Say "sit" as your dog is sitting, 15 – 30 repetitions
2. Say "sit" as your dog is starting to sit, 15 – 30 repetitions
3. Say "sit" just before your dog starts to sit, 15 – 30 repetitions
4. Test by saying "sit" and then wait to see if the dog sits. If he sits, the cue is attached, if he doesn't sit, repeat step 3 and then retest.

Adding a new verbal cue to a behavior on a hand signal
If you are using a hand signal, your dog already knows a cue for sit, so you are going to attach a new verbal cue to it. Remember to click/treat for every repetition.

1. Say "sit" just before you give the hand signal – about a quarter of a second before – repeat 15 times.
2. Say "sit" about one half second before giving the hand signal – repeat 15 times.
3. Say "sit" about one second before giving the hand signal – repeat 15 times.
4. Gradually increase the time between giving the new verbal cue and the old hand signal in one second increments, repeating 10 – 15 times each time.
5. When your dog starts to sit after hearing the verbal cue and before you start the hand signal, then you can test his understanding. Say the verbal cue and wait. If the dog sits, click/treat. If the dog doesn't sit, continue the process following up with the hand signal for another 30 repetitions and then test again.

Gimme here: I was part of a demonstration to show how to attach a special cue to my go to mat behavior. When my person says "mat" I run to my bed and lay down.  The instructor wanted to show how to teach a dog to go to mat when the doorbell rings. So they made the doorbell sound, my person said "mat" and I got clicked and treated for doing what I was supposed to do. By the fifth time, when the doorbell rang, I just ran to my bed and laid down. I already knew what it meant. That's because I'm very smart. I'm just saying…