Remedial dog training - 101

[QuietLifeNC]

Got a bit of a stupid/embarrassing one

My 7 month old pup is plenty bright enough, and knows lots of commands. For example she's great on walks off the lead, and really minds me pretty well. But I can't teach her to Sit 😳

All the stuff I've read says to take a treat, move it in an arc over her head till her bum touches the ground, then reward. Unfortunately she just looks at me, doesn't move, and when I don't give her the treat (because she's not sat), she sods off with a look of disgust LOL.

Does anyone have any other methods they've used to teach the command? Or other advice. It's such a basic one that I feel a bit embarrassed she doesn't get this one.

Have you considered ‘capturing’ the behaviour? ie if you see the dog sitting somewhere then fuss and reward with a marker word or a click? So you are rewarding the sit. On the basis what gets rewarded gets repeated you will find the dog starts to offer you a sit and then you can name it.

What treats are you using? Are they high value enough?

have pup in front of you and hold a treat at your chest level wait for pup to sit and reward then repeat

That's a good point about capturing the behaviour and rewarding when she does it naturally.

I did do super high value treats (cocktail saussies) but she just gets pissed off. I'll try the chest level thingy and see - not optimistic :-)

What breed is she? Lots of the pointy breeds dont like sitting. Does she sit happily on all surfaces?

You may find it easier to teach with movement. So rather than just have her standing in front of you. You take a step back so she is moving towards you and then her momentum will lead into a sit as you bring your hand up above her.

As your are luring her it is worth experimenting with how far aware or close the food needs to be to her nose. From what your describe I would have the food nearer to her nose.

I would also initially give her the treat for just moving her nose to follow the treat, so she only has to make a very small head movement. Then move the treat a bit higher and if she moves her head towards it reward at that point. etc etc until her head is moving high enough for her bum to go down

That's a good call. Maybe she is getting frustrated that i'm asking too much at once - try it little by little

thanks

Do you use a marker? If you do, mark the instant she crouches to poo, pee or mark (outside only of course!). If she has a history of being rewarded for crouching, she's more likely to try crouching inorder to get the treat. You can then shape the crouch into a sit. Remember not to introduce the word "sit" until you can consistently lure her into one, otherwise you'll poison the cue.

Does she know lie down? I’d probably just use that instead