Are you aspiring to teach your American Bulldog to sit? The talent of sitting up is quite easily taught to small dogs, however larger pet dogs are a different story. It is hard for them to maintain their balance.
Teach Your American Bulldog to Sit: Preparation
Sitting is one of the fundamental tricks that should be taught to your American Bulldog and lays the groundwork for countless other tricks. In order to train a American Bulldog to sit up, prep some treats as a reward, and set the American Bulldog on her backside in the corner, to make sure that she is unable to fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your American Bulldog to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Phrase
Protect her from pitching forward by holding your hand underneath her chin and with your second hand hold the reward above the American Bulldog’s face. Keep repeating intelligibly and clearly, “sit.” Do not make her sit up for too long at any one time, but repeat the lesson frequently and reward her regularly with loads of approval and snacks.
Teach Your American Bulldog to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
Throughout her initial lesson she will call for a lot of support from your hand to stop her from tumbling forward, but as she gains better control of her balancing muscles and finds out what you want her to do, she’ll count less upon your hand to keep her steady. Then you can gradually give her less support until you will merely have to leave one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her chin or neck, to be available to stop her from falling forward; later you can remove this hand completely and just simply dangle the treat just above the height of her head.
Teach Your American Bulldog To Sit: Remove the Aids Over Time
With consistent practice she will stay seated for a long time after you set her up. Next she should be set against the wall, so as to provide her a support for her back only. Only after she has gotten the knack of this and can hold her posture effortlessly, practice with her against chair legs, cushions or other items that provide her less and less support. Gradually she will learn how to keep her stability and sit without anything to rest on.
Teach Your American Bulldog to Sit: Putting It All Together
In the course of all these lessons the phrase "sit up" will have been impressed upon her psyche through constant repetition. Now is the final training to teach your American Bulldog to sit up as quickly as she hears the phrase. Most likely, if she has been carefully instructed, you will merely have to summon her out into the room, reveal to her a treat, hold it up a reasonable distance from the ground, say "sit up or sit" and she'll obey. Then just give her the snack while still in place.
The only criteria for perfection is to rehearse with her several times a day until she will sit up when told and without being shown a snack; give her the snacks only after she has obeyed the command.
Teach Your American Bulldog Other Tricks
You have now the foundation for teaching your American Bulldog many other skills. She can now be taught how to beg by moving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in coordination with yours. She can also learn to salute by moving one paw to the side of her head, or to hold a toy in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other clothing.
In instructing a American Bulldog to submit to being dressed up, don't try to get her to wear too many clothes simultaneously. Try her at first with just a cap. Once she becomes adjusted to that you could put on a jacket and gradually introduce her to the other clothes.
Take joy in "teaching your American Bulldog the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun in the process!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about American Bulldogs
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