Teach Your Dog To Sit Up

Teaching the trick of “sitting up” can be easily taught to small dogs and medium size dogs, but we don’t suggest teaching it to some big dogs as it’s difficult for them to keep their balance. The training of the sitting up is one of the first tricks to teach after you teach your dog to sit. It also helps to form the ground work for many other dog tricks. To train a dog to sit up, have on hand some of you dogs favorite treats in easy reach as a reward. The best place to start this command is in a corner of a room so that he cannot fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to lose balance. To start have your dog in a sitting position, to keep your dog from pitching forward have one hand gently holding on under the chin and with the other hand hold the treat above his nose and keep repeating distinctly and deliberately say, “sit up.” Do not make him sit up too long at any one time, but repeat the lesson frequently and reward him often with plentiful of praise and treats. During the first couple of sessions you dog will needs considerable assistance from your hand to prevent him from pitching forward, but as he gets control of the balancing muscles and understands what you want, he will depend less and less upon your hand to keep him in position and you can gradually render him less assistance until you will only have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from his neck or chin, so as to be ready to prevent him pitching forward; later on you can withdraw this hand entirely and simply hold the treat just above the level of his head. With constant practice he will sit up well after you set him up; then he should be set up against the wall, so as to afford him a support for his back only, and after he has been well schooled at this and can keep his position easily, practice him against chair legs, cushions or other objects that afford him less and less assistance, until finally he learns to preserve his balance and sits up without anything to lean against. During all these lessons using the command “sit up” should be used to relay what you want him to do, with repetition your dog should come to sit up with just the command. With enough practice all you will need to do is to call him out in the room, show him a treat, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say “sit up” and he will do so, when he should be given the treat while still in position. If you practice a few times a day your dog should quickly catch on and learn the trick in short order. The Sit up command is a great foundation for many other tricks. He can be taught to beg by moving your hand up and down just in front of his paws, which he will move in unison with yours. He can also be taught to salute by bringing one paw up to the side of his head, or to hold a wooden pipe in his mouth, or to wear a cap on his head or other articles of wearing apparel. In teaching a dog to submit to being dressed up, do not attempt to get him to wear too many things at once; try him at first with a cap and after he becomes accustomed to that you can put on a coat and gradually accustom him to the other clothing articles. Enjoy teaching your dog the “sit up” trick and most importantly have fun along the way!