Issue with training sit

[Robert165]

I am training my dog to sit. I used to dog treats to teach him to sit (as rewards) but now he will sit without them, most of the time. So I am working on two things:

1- Increasing the duration of sit/reward to longer and longer intervals. Right now we are at 3 or 5 seconds. Do I just keep proceeding and work up to 60 seconds (or some similar amount)?

2- My dog likes to jump up and put his paws on my chest. I make him sit now before he can do this then give him a command for "up". But, is this working, to teach him self discipline, or, is it teaching him to learn sit/up to chest as one single movement (not desired)?

[xracer4844]

Personally, when I am training a puppy, I work on only the most important basic commands like sit, down, stay for example. I usually clicker train pups, and use each kibble of a meal for a training session. I believe in teaching a solid foundation of the basics first.

[CraftHer]

I think you should keep increasing the sit time. Also, to sit with distractions. You can also teach sit with a hand signal, too.

We have also taught Mocha to jump up only when asked. He still jumps up when he's excited and we tell him Off. The more consistent we are, the better he is at it. I'm not always as consistent as I should be. However, when he jumps up without being asked, I tell him Off and then don't ask him to up right away. I don't want him to connect the "up/sit/up" combo you are talking about. I wait anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes when he's distracted on something else and won't make the "up/sit/up" connection.

I hope this helps.

[voodoo]

if you have the dog sit for more than 10 secs I would give command stay or wait. at least thats my thought process.

[rochie427]

I agree with voodoo. If you are going to teach your dog to sit for an extended time the dog should also learn the command stay.

[Robert165]

Personally, when I am training a puppy, I work on only the most important basic commands like sit, down, stay for example. I usually clicker train pups, and use each kibble of a meal for a training session. I believe in teaching a solid foundation of the basics first.

I will start working on down and stay next

I think you should keep increasing the sit time. Also, to sit with distractions. You can also teach sit with a hand signal, too.

We have also taught Mocha to jump up only when asked. He still jumps up when he's excited and we tell him Off. The more consistent we are, the better he is at it. I'm not always as consistent as I should be. However, when he jumps up without being asked, I tell him Off and then don't ask him to up right away. I don't want him to connect the "up/sit/up" combo you are talking about. I wait anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes when he's distracted on something else and won't make the "up/sit/up" connection.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the clarification on the jumping issue

if you have the dog sit for more than 10 secs I would give command stay or wait. at least thats my thought process.

Yes, we are up to 3 or 5 seconds now, working our way up

[ronmcq]

I also agree with CraftHer incorporating the use of hand signals in the sit/down/stay training which could come in very handy someday. We once stopped one of our dogs from wandering into a busy street using them (my fault she got out of the yard and followed us). Who knows what might have happened?

[xracer4844]

Agreed - my dog is trained completely with non verbal/hand signals for most of our search work used at distance.

I usually don't introduce hand signals until the pup has a solid understanding of the commands though.

[michael m]

Hello,
I just wanted to raise the issue with adult dog vs. pup for jumping up.
Personally, I wouldn't teach the dog to jump up and would stop that behavior. It may seem fine now, but once the dog is 75 to 100 pounds, and there are children or elderly involved, the jumping up can pose a real issue.
Best advice is to never allow a puppy to do any actions that you would not want from a full grown dog. Lab's toenails become very thick and can easily injure skin and damage clothing. Just some thoughts as you move forward with training your dog.
Michael

[Snowshoe]

I am training my dog to sit. I used to dog treats to teach him to sit (as rewards) but now he will sit without them, most of the time. So I am working on two things:

1- Increasing the duration of sit/reward to longer and longer intervals. Right now we are at 3 or 5 seconds. Do I just keep proceeding and work up to 60 seconds (or some similar amount)?

2- My dog likes to jump up and put his paws on my chest. I make him sit now before he can do this then give him a command for "up". But, is this working, to teach him self discipline, or, is it teaching him to learn sit/up to chest as one single movement (not desired)?

I guess this dog is an adult or he would not be able to reach your chest? Or at least not a baby puppy?

1. Are you teaching STAY? We taught SIT. Then we taught STAY where we increased the time the sit was held. Then we went back to expecting the dog to hold a SIT without being told STAY. Our trainer liked this sequence, saying teach the duration part as a STAY seemed to help them learn to hold the SIT longer. Then the STAY was applied to DOWN. When teaching the STAY we used a release word (FREE for us) which was applied when we extended the duration of the Sit without using Stay. If this sounds confusing I can try again. LOL

2. Yes, I think you might inadvertently be teaching him UP (my word is HUG) always follows a sit if that's the only time you use it. I have two words. HUG means he can jump on me. I will invite a hug at any old time I feel like I want one and I do use it as a reward after a well done exercise but that exercise is not always Sit. Plus I have hand and body signals for when I use it as a reward. FEET means don't you dare hug me. FEET means feet on the floor. It took a while but I am confident Oban knows these words because I can tell him to do one or the other to another person who might not necessarily be right beside us.

Does that help? There are some different ideas up above and we've obviously come from training where different sequences were used.

Oh, and we trained SIT and DOWN in particular by luring, which became a hand signal. And the hand signal was learned before the verbal. In Oban's first class our instructions were quite specific. We were NOT to even say the word till we were so confident the hand signal would be complied with that we would bet our neighbour $50 the dog would do it. Then we could start the word. Our trainer said dogs, most animals, are far more attuned to body language than verbal language so learning the hand signal first was easier for them. Worked for us and everyone in our class.