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Teaching your Dog to Sit & Stay

Teaching a dog to sit and stay until released is a great way to help teach a dog good manners. Here are a few ways to teach sit/stay.

Method 1:

This method uses a treat as a lure.  Starting with treat in hand move the lure from in front of the dog’s nose to just behind the head in an arch. Often this is enough to get a dog to rock back into a sit. Say ‘good sit’ hold the treat or toy in front of their nose, say ‘good stay’ give the reward and then release.  When you are pretty sure your dog will respond to the cue, say ‘sit’, reward, say ‘stay’, reward, then release.

Method 2:

Watch your dog closely and when they do the sit behavior all on its own say ‘good sit’. If your dog stays in place say ‘good stay’.  In this method you are simply giving names to the behaviors your dog can naturally do. You can give treats, praise, pets, play etc. to encourage your dog to repeat the behavior. If you can see that your dog is about to sit, you can say ‘sit’ followed by a reward and the same goes for stay.

Method 3:

Some dogs may need a little more help learning to sit. Being as gentle as possible, guide up on the collar with a finger or two of one hand and with the other hand gently touch above the base of your dog’s tail pressing down. Say ‘sit’ and when your dog does, reward it. Now say ‘stay’ and gently hold your dog in place, when it stays reward and then release. Use less and less pressure with each trial.

Being able to consistently sit and stay on command can make your home more peaceful and in some cases can help save your dog’s life.

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