Are you trying to teach your Icelandic Sheepdog to sit? The skill of sitting up is quite easily taught to smaller dogs, however much bigger pet dogs are a different story. It is challenging for them to sustain their balance.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog to Sit: Readiness
Sitting is one of the 1st tricks that should be taught to your Icelandic Sheepdog and forms the ground work for numerous other skills. To train a Icelandic Sheepdog to sit up, organize some treats as a reward, and place your Icelandic Sheepdog on her backside in a corner, so that she can’t fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Words
Protect her from pitching towards you by holding one hand underneath her chin and using the second hand dangle the treat above her nose. Keep repeating deliberately and distinctly, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit up too long at any one time, but repeat the training frequently and reward her frequently with loads of recognition and snacks.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog to Sit: Help Her Stay Balanced
In her beginner lesson your Icelandic Sheepdog will demand quite a bit of help and support from you to keep her from tumbling forward, but as she gets control of the muscles and recognizes what you want her to do, she will depend less and less upon your hand to hold her in position. Then you can gradually give her less help until you will simply have to keep one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her neck or chin, to be prepared to stop her falling forward; later on you can probably remove your hand and merely dangle the snack just above the level of your Icelandic Sheepdog’s head.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog To Sit: Remove the Aids Over Time
After consistent training your Icelandic Sheepdog will sit up for a long time after you command her. Then she should be set against the wall, so as to provide her a support for her back. After she has picked up this and can hold her place easily, practice with her up against chair legs, pillows or other things that give her less and less assistance. In the end she will figure out how to keep her balance and sit without having anything to lean on.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog to Sit: Putting It All Together
During all this training the command "sit up" will have been instilled upon her psyche by regular repetition. Lastly comes the final training to teach your Icelandic Sheepdog to sit up as quickly as she hears the words. There's a great chance, if she has been carefully taught, you will simply have to call her out into the room, show a reward, hold it up a reasonable distance from the floor, say "sit" and she'll do so. Then just give her the reward while still in position.
The only condition for excellence is to rehearse with her several times a day until she can sit up when told and without being shown a reward; give her the snacks only after she has complied with the direction.
Teach Your Icelandic Sheepdog Other Tricks
You have now the basis for teaching your Icelandic Sheepdog many other skills. She now can learn how to beg by moving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in rhythm with yours. She also can be taught to salute by moving one paw up to the side of her head, or to keep a wooden pipe in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other articles of clothing.
While instructing a Icelandic Sheepdog to accept being clothed, do not try to get her to wear too many items at one time. Try at first with just a cap. Soon after she gets adjusted to that you can put on a jacket and gradually introduce her to more clothing.
Delight in "teaching your Icelandic Sheepdog the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun while you're doing it!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Icelandic Sheepdogs
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