Are you aspiring to teach your English Cocker Spaniel to sit? The talent of sitting up is quite easily taught to smaller dogs, yet much larger doggies are another story. It is hard for them to maintain their equilibrium.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel to Sit: Prep
Sitting up is one of the 1st skills that you should teach to your English Cocker Spaniel and provides the foundation for quite a few other skills. In order to train a English Cocker Spaniel to sit up, put together some treats as a reward, and set the English Cocker Spaniel on her butt in a corner, so she will not fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to lose balance.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Command
Stop her from pitching to the front by maintaining your hand beneath her chin and using your second hand dangle the snack above your English Cocker Spaniel’s face. Keep saying deliberately and clearly, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit up for too long at one time, however repeat the instruction frequently and reward her frequently with lots of cheers and treats.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel to Sit: Help Her Stay Balanced
In the first lesson your English Cocker Spaniel will demand significant help from your hand to stop her from pitching forward, but as she gains more control of the muscles and knows what you want, she will count less on your hand to keep her steady. Gradually, you can give her less help up until you’ll just have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be waiting to stop her falling forward; later on you can easily take away this hand entirely and just simply hold the snack just above the height of your English Cocker Spaniel’s head.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel To Sit: Remove the Assistance Over Time
After regular practice she will sit up long after you command her. The next step is she should be set up against your wall, so as to offer her help for her back. Immediately after she has figured out this and can keep her position effortlessly, practice with her using chair legs, pillows or other objects that provide her less and less help and support. Sooner or later she will be trained to maintain her balance and sit up without having something to rest against.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been impressed upon her psyche by regular repetition. Lastly here's the final lesson to teach your English Cocker Spaniel to sit up immediately after she hears the words. There's a good chance, if she has been diligently trained, you will merely have to call her out into the room, show a snack, hold it up a reasonable distance from the floor, say "sit up or sit" and she will do so. Then you'll just give her the treat while still in position.
The only criteria for excellence is to practice with her multiple times a day until she will sit up when told and without being shown a snack; give her the rewards only once she has obeyed the order.
Teach Your English Cocker Spaniel Other Tricks
You have now the groundwork for teaching your English Cocker Spaniel many other skills. She now can learn how to beg by waving your hand up and down just in front of her paws, which she will move in coordination with yours. She can also be taught to salute by moving one paw to the side of her head, or to keep an object in her mouth, or to wear a cap on her head or wear other articles of clothing.
While training a English Cocker Spaniel to tolerate being clothed, don't try to make her wear too many items at the same time. Try her at first with just a hat. Only after she becomes familiar with that you can put on a jacket and gradually introduce her to more clothes.
Enjoy "teaching your English Cocker Spaniel the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun in the process!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about English Cocker Spaniels
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