1. Sit

Sit! This is probably the first and most important trick to know aside from your puppies’ name. As adorable as they are, sometimes you need to get their attention or for them to settle down when they’re up to no good. Learning sit sets the foundation for many new tricks to come and is vital for a happy puppy and a happy parent!

The Training

• Get a treat. (You’ll need one to guide them)
• Without giving away the treat, hold it to their nose and allow them to smell it. (This will help get their attention)
• Lift the treat up and over their head, moving away from you and towards their rear. Your dog should slowly start to drop and sit on the floor. (Be patient if they don’t get it right away)
• The moment your dog is in the sitting position, say “Yes!”, praise them and give them the treat as the reward.
• Get your dog standing again. Either by walking a few steps away, throwing a toy or moving around.
• Get your dogs attention again and repeat the steps to sit.
• When your dog starts to get familiar with the trick you can start to include the command “sit”.

The Tips

• Never touch your dog or push them into a sit position during the training, this will make it more confusing, and they won’t learn how to sit on their own. If your dog is not responding because of distractions, try to find a space where there are limited distractions, smells and noises like an open room or study.
• If either of you start to get frustrated, it’s best to pause and take a break from training, you can always come back to the training later. Otherwise, your puppy won’t learn anything, you will be stuck pulling your hairs out and we don’t want that. We want a happy you and a happy pup.
• When your dog starts to sit on their own, remember to say “Yes” right away, praise and reward them. After some time, your dog will start offering you sits just to get a treat & earn a reward, this is the behavior we want to encourage. Additionally, after some time you can start to add in hand signals during the sit which can be great when you’re in public or in areas where you don’t want everyone looking at you. When your puppy starts to understand more you can start to build onto existing tricks and learn new ones as you please.

The video and/or my content can’t guarantee that the learning method is right for your dog. The information I gave is based on my knowledge and opinion of different learning types and is not directly endorsed by professionals. The methods shown within the video are meant to be demonstration purposes and it does not guarantee the success with all dogs. If you have any specific questions or concerns regarding the information given out please reach out on our Contact Page and we can get in touch.