Sit: A Few Do's & a Few Don'ts

SIT

Sit is usually not too difficult to teach. With a piece of kibble in your hand get your puppy’s attention by calling her name. Hold the piece of kibble by the puppy’s nose and then slowly move it backward in the direction of the puppy’s tail. Be patient. When the puppy sits say “sit!” and reward with the kibble. It’s important to note that it doesn’t matter what word you use to mark the compliance as long as you are consistent in using the same word every time.

RESPONDING TO THEIR NAME

Training a puppy to respond to their name is the first thing we do. Calling a puppy’s name can mean to make eye contact, to come, or to get their attention. Saying a puppy’s name should always be a positive thing. Try to never call your puppy by name in anger. Although this is a natural human thing to do, you don’t want your puppy associating any negative behaviour with it’s’ name. 

Here’s how. Be sure you have some kibble ready for a reward. Have your puppy in front of you, you can be sitting or standing it doesn’t matter. Put the kibble by the puppy’s nose so that he can smell it and then while you pull the reward away from the puppy you say its name. The kibble should be in the line of sight between your eyes and the puppy’s eyes. This will guide your puppy toward learning to make eye contact with you when you call its name. As soon as your puppy makes good eye contact, mark the command with a “good” or “good girl” and reward her with the kibble.

It’s important to note that the puppy makes a good eye contact and not just a glance and look away. In the beginning, a glance would be ok to start with but you want to move to the puppy making and holding eye contact until you reward it. Repeat this 5-10 or more times being sure to stop before your puppy begins to lose interest.

Once they are responding well to their name, you can also begin to reward response to other sounds. For example if you want them to come when you whistle, or make a kiss noise. Any noise you choose can be used to gain their attention using this method. Simply substitute their name for the whistle or kiss.