I decided to put this onto my blog as I am writing it to submit to the club where we train as they asked if anyone would like to write down how they train their dogs to sit. As you can see above, this is my eldest dog Frank while out on a walk being recalled (three pips) and then being sat at distance (one pip).
Training a dog to sit sounds like the most simplest of tasks and probably is, but will become a powerful tool later on in the dogs working life. You may of heard the term “drop to shot” where upon a gun being fired your dog should stop, sit and then mark the bird (watch where it drops). Or you may have seen dogs working out in the field many hundreds of yards from the owner and with one pip of the whistle or on a noisy / windy day just a raised hand, the dog stops, sits and pays attention for it’s next command. These actions and more have a strong link back to the simple act of getting your dog to sit.
Two things to remember throughout all training. Consistency is the key, just because you are late for work doesn’t mean that you can skip the lesson at feeding time in a morning, just because you really need the loo still doesn’t mean you can put the bowl down and leave the dogs to eat. That’s plain lazy. Also commands to carry out a task are always nice command, never feel stressed out because your dog isn’t sitting and start to raise your voice or say sit in a nasty way. If you need to tell them off you should be using something to let them know it’s wrong, I use a short “ah” in a gruff voice.
The basic sit
So first of all let’s look at how to get your dog to sit in the most basic of ways and then move on to each step, evolving the sit so that you can confidently sit your dog at distance.
There are many types of commands to use and first we train the verbal and slightly introduce a visual one. Most dogs don’t have a GCSE in english so you can use whatever word you like, personally I use “sit” however some use “hup”. I find the easiest way to get them to sit is from a young age using feeding time and play time, then it feels natural to them.
Let’s take feeding time as a pup. With the bowl of food in one hand stand up straight and with the palm of your other hand facing them, fingers closed give the command to sit. For an untrained dog this will mean nothing so repeat a couple of times and if your dog is still over excited at the thought of food then put the food on the floor, keeping the dog at arms length, with one hand on it’s chest and one hand on it’s bum push it’s bum to the floor and hold it in the sit position and repeat in a calm voice your command to sit about three or four times. It will take a few weeks to train this into your dog, at which point you should soon be able to get the dog to sit by holding the food in one hand and commanding it to sit.
You could do the same with a toy, hold it in your hand or put it on the ground and repeat until they are sitting correctly. Don’t forget that when they do, praise them. I don’t teach with a clicker or food, just a “good boy” and a pat.
The sit and stay
Now we have a dog that will sit to a verbal command after a few weeks, with and without a temptation in your hand. What you need next it for them to stay on the spot while the bowl or toy is being lowered to the ground and stay that way until the command is given to eat.
This is a simple case of as you are lowering yourself to the ground keep repeating the command word and if needs be a gentle bit of pressure on their chest to hold them back. If they force forward just stand back up. This takes a lot of patience! The first week of doing this with mine resulted in me having to hold them back with a lot of “ah’s”. The length of time they are sat should be different too. This is important so they do not second guess you! The moment you give the command to eat give them praise.
DO NOT say “sit, siiiitttt, stayyy, wait waiiiittt, waiiiiit”. How many commands do you need?! Just a simple single word will do. Sit means sit until you give it another command. Also never get it to sit and then praise it by calling it in, i.e. "come here, good boy", this is teaching it to be unsteady.
Now we should have a dog that when you command it to sit, it sits and should stay there until you tell it to do something albeit in a quiet environment but most importantly if it is a pup it will make the transition into attending gundog class a lot easier as there are more distractions out there.
Finally let’s cover sitting to visual signals and whistles.
The basic structure is the same. Practise it in stages, gradually building up distance and being consistent.
Sit and stay at distance
Firstly we need them to be able to see / hear the command at distance so firstly try walking the dog to heel, as your leading foot hits the ground give the lead a little tug and say sit. Once this has been mastered use the whistle AND the verbal command, give it one short beep on the whistle and by the time your second foot hits the floor as you are standing the dog should be sat.
Along with this while out on a walk also sit your dog, turn to face it, still on the lead, raise your arm high in the air, palm facing away from you, fingers closed and issue the sit command or whistle, even if it is already sat. Reaffirm this and take a step back, if the dog starts to shuffle, put it back on the spot, even if it only a few inches, pip the whistle and step back. Keep repeating this until they are steady and you are at the length of the lead. Now is the time to slip the lead off and get further and further back.
IMPORTANT…. Consistency warning… Always put your dog back on the spot if it moves off, shuffles, crawls and start again.
Praise comes when you get back to the dogs side.
When you are at a distance away, try walking around, don’t just go straight back. Walk behind a tree and out again, bushes are great too but only for short moments. The dog will soon learn that you are coming back. It is also important at this stage that the dog is looking at you. Yes it’s great the dog sit’s 300 yards out and looks like it’s half asleep watching the squirrels in the wood nearby but you really need the dog to pay attention verbally and visually.
To truly get your dog to sit while it is away from you simply let it play around your feet and issue the sit command. If it labours before the sit, tell it off, run over, push its bum to the ground and make it sit. Eventually it will get the message that when you say sit, no matter where you are, you mean it. Increase the distance until you are confident that it will sit at a good distance away. This is where the visual raised hand is powerful as they may not be able to make out what you have said or what the whistle was.
Dropping to shot is then just a matter of introcuding the dog, at a correct age to a starting pistol while carrying out the commands. For mine I train to sit at distance first, then crack a shot off and beep the whistle while holding my hand up. Eventually they realise that a gunshot, raised hand, sit command all mean sit.
Now you can take great pride in your dog that has manners and have a quiet giggle at the 9 year old untrained dogs in the park running around while the owners are screaming commands at them in an attempt at control.
Consistency, consistency, consistency.
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