Teach Your Dog To Sit In An Instant

The first training session people have with their new dog is teaching it to sit.  It’s a proud moment indeed.  When teaching this basic command, the human is usually facing the dog.  The dog begins to think in order to sit you must be facing them.  The next step is standing with them at your side as you say, “sit.”

Once they know the command, it doesn’t matter where you are standing relative to them.  When out on a walk, having your dog sit next to you as you stop is very important.  If they are sitting, they aren’t going any where else!  The desired response is for a dog to learn to sit immediately upon your stopping.  Can or will they sit in an instant?

I encourage clients to walk slow, stop, and wait a couple of seconds before asking the dog to sit.  Give the dog an opportunity to realize, “Oh, we’ve stopped (or at least one of us has) and this is when I sit.”  Maybe they aren’t going through all of that, but it’s not necessary to halt quickly and correct your dog into a sit without first teaching them what’s expected and giving them the opportunity to do it.  Walk, stop, give them a second to respond, then ask them to sit.  Only ask once.  Then you may “assist” them in sitting.  Praise!

Some dogs will learn instantly to sit when you stop walking.  Others, have to wait for the word to absorb into their brains while the information slowly travels down the spine to their hind quarters where the action takes place.

I’ll relate it this way. . .you walk into someone’s home and they tell you to sit down.  As you are starting to sit, they sharply repeat, “SIT, SIT, SIT!”  Wouldn’t you look at them and say, “give me a second.”  I think I’ve heard a few dogs mumble something similar.

With a Great Dane, sitting is a process!  Are they sitting quickly?  Yes, for them.  It takes a second for the entire body to get the message and respond.  So, will your dog learn to sit in an instant?  Maybe.  If, however, they need a few seconds to engage, you don’t need to repeat the command.  Say it, mean it, praise for the response and see if that’s not fast enough.