Does sit mean the same for you and your dog??

Dogs can be pretty bad at generalising the meaning of things
You might think you have trained your dog really well to sit but what exactly does your dog think you mean.

You like to think that 'sit' means dog still with its bum on the floor and legs straight
Its not as easy as that

Your dog might have learnt that when you are in the sitting room, with a treat in your hand, lifting the treat above its nose, when its all quiet and saying 'sit' means the dog goes from standing and puts its bum on the ground until it is told 'good boy' and given the treat then it can do what it wants

Dogs can be as specific as that

So decide EXACTLY what you want your command to mean
I want sit to mean go into the sitting position from standing, lying down or upside down. Do it from infront of me, to the side, behind or at a distance. Do it in the sitting room, kitchen, hall, outside, wherever. Do it when I say and/or give the hand signal, do it no matter what distractions, do it whether there is a treat there or not, and hold the position until I tell you to do something else.

So I have to train for ALL of these things - train in different locations with dog in different positions with different distractions.

So if your dog dosent do what you want ask yourself have you actually trained it how to do that SPECIFIC thing?

Say what you mean

following on from the Talk Less post I though about what we actually say to our dogs and how important it is for us to think about what we want the words we say to mean for our dogs.

The word 'down' is the best example of this

What do you want 'down' to mean??

Most people will say they want the dog to lie down when they say it.

But then think about when you actually use the word and how it can be confusing to the dog

'Sit down' we actually want the dog to sit - but from the dogs point of view there is two commands given there - 'sit' and 'down' so I just use 'Sit' when I want the dog to sit

'down' to get off people or things. Ben did a wonderful example of doing exactly what he was told when he was very little, he had jumped up on a lady, she knew I was trying to stop him doing that so she said 'Down' to him, little angel folded up into a down position while he still had his paws up on her legs, so he was in a down at 45 degrees.

To get off things I use 'off' to mean get onto the floor.

As dogs pick up so well on everything we say it might be a good idea to write a list of the commands you want to use (and what you want the word to mean)and make sure everyone sticks to them. Also the dog can learn far faster if you have a hand signal that goes along with the word. I point to the sky for 'sit' to the ground for 'down' and I use the palm of my hand in a pushing away motion for 'off'

Return to dog training hints and tips