Teaching "Sit"

[apoor]

How can you teach a dog to sit if you can't get his butt on the ground? Our current foster boxer (male, about 1 yr) was rescued from a puppy mill so he was never taught any tricks. He is the sweetest thing and we just adore him - as does his foster brother, our 3 yr old male. We are trying to begin training with him and we expect it will be slow going given what he has been through, but he is such a wonderful happy dog and is really eager to please. We are trying to work on "sit" - but he just does not want to put his butt on the ground. He rarely even sits on his own - is either standing or lying down. We try holding a treat and moving it up so that he would follow it up with his head, but he just jumps to get it, rather than sitting. And if we try to gently push his butt down he starts hopping around like a nut - boxer wiggling all over the place! He is 70 pounds of pure muscle so I am going to have to convince him to sit - I'm not going to be able to "put him in a sit" like I could when we trained our dog as an 8 week old puppy. Anyone have any ideas?? Has anyone had this experience with training an older dog before? Thanks for any help!

 

[apollosdad]

it sounds as if you will definitely need to exercise a bit more patience with this guy. however, it sounds as if he is a very happy guy and wants to work for the treats, so that is in your favor.
i would recommend trying to train him on lead, if you're not already doing so. this will help control him and hopefully settle him down. another option would be to give him a bunch of exercise before training him in order to tire him out and anticipate a much more calm dog. however, this can work both ways as a tired dog can lose some of it's focus. you might want to try and play around with those options and see which one or combination of them work for you.

 

[SABoxerfan]

Also, try starting with him backed into a corner. That way, he can't move backwards as you go--keep the treat right on the bridge of his nose (if you can; I'll bet he's pretty fast). Ian Dunbar also suggests just standing there with the treat as your dog "tries different things" until he happens on the right one. Don't know if that will work for you, since your big boy isn't much of a sitter to begin with, but it's worth a try. Good luck!

 

[Shanz]

You could try the scoop method.
Have him stand, kneel beside him on his right side. Place your right hand on his chest, or hold onto his collar, whichever. Place your left arm to that your forearm is right underneath his butt and then place your left hand on his side. (I just had to go try it out on Cinnamon to make sure i was explaining it right ) So once youve got yourself positioned like this, lift his but with your forearm, bring it forward a tad, then place it on the ground. Once his put is on the ground, say sit and give him a treat at the same time this way he'll associate the behaviour with the word and the treat.

On the rare ocassion you do see him sit on his own, say sit and praise him like crazy.

the corner method also works but youd have to be careful if he is a nervous dog.

I just thought of something, Cinnamon never used to be able to get her butt all the way on the ground because of her tail...maybe his tail is too long? and when he sits its being pushe dinto the ground
Good luck!

 

[ladyluck_t]

I also have a untrained 7-8 mo old 70 lbs foster baby. He wont sit to save his life Also, since i wasnt involved with his initial 8mo's of raising, i am not sure how he would react to a little push on his hind end to help with the movement. So, Here's how i worked with him -> this is still on-going he only gets it about 50% of the time,

1. call both dogs to you
2. tell your dog to sit with the hand movement if you use them
3. reward your dog (now my katie is food aggressive, so i just use praise for the reward, thankfully my foster works just as good with praise too :D )
4. turn to foster and repeat process
5. if foster jumps or does not sit, speak the neg reinforcement (i use the "uh uh" sound)
6. turn back to your dog, take two steps back and repeat steps 1-5.
7. remember to make a really big deal with both dogs when they do the command.

Also, keep a close eye on him when ya'll are around, my foster just got neutered last monday, so when his stitches started itching, he would run around and then sit, so i started watching and the minute his butt hit the ground i would say "sit" and reward. So basically, take every opportunity you can get to "hammer" in the command (hammer as in repeat not physically ) You might want to start working on the down when he lays down in this way, just as he is laying down say "down" and then reward.
Also, be sure not to give the treat/praise or any other "reward" when he doesnt comply with the initial sit, just turn back to your other dog and work with him. or as i sometimes do, i just take a step back and a deep breath (i.e. a pregnant pause) then try the command again.

THe biggest problem that i have seen in working with foster/rescue dogs is that you never know what their previous experience has been, therefore you have no idea how they will react to what you percieve as innocuous. So just be watchful of his behavior when you are training, if he appears to be a little stressed, end the session with lots of love and praise and try again in an hour or so. :D

Good Luck!

 

[Shanz]

I never thought of suggesting using the other dog to train but that is what i did with Cinnamon. I used Brandy to teach give paw and to teach sit.

 

[beausmommy]

Beau is 15 months and has had no training (only until July-yay!!). The way I got him to sit is to snap my fingers really high in the air. He'll sit and stare at my hand as long as I keep it in the air. I'm sure it sounds really strange, but it works!

 

[apoor]

Great ideas!

Thanks so much for all the great ideas! It is helping to put him on a leash for "official" training sessions. If he's tired the "scoop" method sometimes works - if he's not I just end up with him on top of me! LOL! Still - we are making progress. I have been able to get him to sit a few times and I have gone nuts when he does it. My dog Cody looks at me as if he's saying, "what's the big deal here? I sit ALL THE TIME!!" I think he's figuring out that sitting is a good thing to do because when I went to take him his breakfast this morning he was SITTING waiting for his bowl! Yeah! Thanks for your help everyone!!

 

[jenchrismeko]

One suggestion...if you have never used a 'clicker' invest in one!! They work wonders. I always see them at the checkout counter of Petco or PetSmart. Meko caught on really quickly that 'click' equals food! He'll do almost anything for a treat!! Having him in beginner's obedience helped too but I think he would have figured it out without the class. As soon as your guy sits (when you tell him), click/feed, click/feed, click/feed, making sure to say 'good sit' until you're blue in the face!! It won't take long to tie the two together.