How To Train Your Dog To Sit And Stay – Part 2

cristina February 9, 2017 4 Comments

 

 

Hello everybody, and I am happy to have you here again:). I am back to answer a few questions you still have about how to train your dog to sit and stay commands.

Let’s say that you finally trained your pup to stay and sit and everything is ok until a few weeks later when he starts to not listen to you. You will maybe just think that he wants to be ‘the boss’ and he decides to not take orders 🙂

No. It is not this.

Many Labrador owners will complain that their pups don’t sit and stay when there are distracted by things around them. Things like other dogs or people wanting to pet them… Is this normal?

 When dogs are around it is perfectly normal for your dog to not want to sit and stay. He wants to greet the other dogs and to play. If he doesn’t, he just doesn’t  like dogs or… is very well trained.

Dogs don’t understand that they have to perform to your command in any condition. Usually, they associate it with the place and the situation they were trained.

 So when your puppy knows the command sit very well, you have to start to teach him to perform it in places where there are distractions around. So the first thing you have to do is to execute the Sit command as part of an everyday way of life, not just in the training sessions.

One example is, when you feed your dog, before giving him the bowl you tell him to sit and wait patiently. You should teach him patience, a difficult task for our playful and enthusiastic Labradors.

Everywhere, every time you have to give him this command. Before going for a walk, you should tell him to sit and stay and wait to put the leash on.

My boy in the beginning when I was telling him to wait for the leash, started shouting to me, arguing. He couldn’t wait.  This was a difficult task.

When people come to pet him, your Labrador sits for second and then gets up. This is a very common problem. Of course, it is very normal for your dog to react like this. He is impatient to take the stroke, the hugs 🙂

What is the next step?

 

We all want our dog to respond to our commands in any situation, and this process is named proofing.

Talking about the sit command, to proof this cue we have to go to the next step, and not only in the house in his familiar area. Start taking him in the garden (balcony).When he will listen to the sit command perfectly in the garden, go for walk in familiar places and start the training. And then…the last step is in an unfamiliar place, with dogs around, people petting him and footballs everywhere 🙂

Don’t be scared. It will not take forever. In a few months, if you do the right thing, everything will be perfect. Except the training as I said before, this command should be repeated daily in every situation.

 

SIT should be his way to being mannered and respectful 🙂

When we reach this level your dog shouldn’t stay there looking to you, waggling his tail. He should have an automatic response to your command.

But for sure, if you follow the steps from the first post, doing daily the exercises, you will have this result.

Mistakes to avoid

 

So… from the beginning, we have to avoid a mistake that a lot of people make. They separate the sit and the stay commands. Ok, they are different tasks but you need them together.

Many trainers teach them separately but it is not a good way because you will never need your dog just to sit. He has to teach them together. When he sits, he has to know that he has to stay. So…SIT and then STAY.

Another thing to avoid is when your dog sits, you tell him the reward word, don’t continue to talk to him, and don’t excite him about something because he will change his mind.

Your voice should be calm and strong. To reach this level is not a long process like one of my friends thought when reading my first post. It is only a few days process.

Just a few tricks and a little advice

 

If you are tired and frustrated, because this furry ball doesn’t listen to you, don’t punish him. Both of you need a break. It is better if you are doing something else until both of you relax.

Ask your family to take part in the training. This will make sure the training is easier. They have to use the right words at the right time, and your dog will finally understand that the things should be like this 🙂

Achievements

How do you know you both did a good job and your dog is perfectly trained and you can trust him?

When you achieve the next few things, you can trust you sweet companion 🙂

•  Response to your command from distance.

Your dog should listen to your command or hand signal from any distance. Why is this so important? In the future, you will be faced with situations that can be vital for your friend to sit and generally to listen to you.

You will avoid many problems and your lab will be safe. For example if he goes to play somewhere that is dangerous, a car passes or something else, you just say SIT, AND STAY and he will obey, you can even save his life.

• Duration

 When your dog sits and stays as long as you want, until you free him with a verbal or hand signal, we can say that…he learned and we trust him. Again this is very important and will take you both from many difficult situations.

• Response to your command when are distractions around

I know is difficult but is important to behave. Maybe there are children playing and one or some of them are afraid… he should listen to you and sit. To achieve this, ask from a friend, and also bring another dog when you do the training, but of course when you are in the last level and your dog has the basics.

• Good luck

 So on saying this, good luck with your energy ball training 🙂 I assure you that is not as difficult as it looks if you do it in the right way.

So…first train your self.

You will see later that it is very important for your dog to listen to you, and it will make life better for both of you. A few extra hours of training in the first months of his life will give you a well behaved Labrador, you will be relaxed and confident when walking him and both of you will enjoy each others company 🙂

Thanks for reading 🙂

For further reading about your furry babies choose below

 

 

 

 

Cristina