Are you attempting to teach your English Foxhound to sit? The talent of sitting up is quite easily taught to little dogs, however much bigger doggies are a different story. It is tricky for them to sustain their equilibrium.
Teach Your English Foxhound to Sit: Preparation
Sitting is one of the fundamental tricks that you should teach to a English Foxhound and is the groundwork for countless other techniques. To train a English Foxhound to sit up, prep some treats as a reward, and place your English Foxhound on her rump in a corner, to ensure she won’t be able to fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to lose balance.
Teach Your English Foxhound to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Phrase
Protect her from pitching to the front by keeping 1 hand beneath her chin and using the other hand dangle her reward above her face. Keep repeating clearly and intelligibly, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit for too long at any one time, but repeat the training frequently and reward her regularly with a lot of approval and snacks.
Teach Your English Foxhound to Sit: Help Her Balance
Throughout the initial lesson your English Foxhound will require significant assistance from your hand to keep her from pitching forward, but as she gets more control of her stabilizing muscles and knows what you want, she’ll rely less on your hand to keep her steady. Then you can gradually give your English Foxhound less help and support until you will basically have to keep one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her chin or neck, to be available to prevent her falling forward; eventually you may withdraw this hand and simply suspend the reward right over the height of your English Foxhound’s head.
Teach Your English Foxhound To Sit: Remove the Help Over Time
With constant practice she will stay seated well after you set her up. Then she should be set up against your wall, so as to provide her help for her back. Soon after she has learned this and can hold her posture easily, rehearse with her up against chair legs, pillows or other items that offer her less and less help and support. Sooner or later she will understand how to maintain her stability and sit without having something to rest against.
Teach Your English Foxhound to Sit: Putting It All Together
During the course of all these lessons the phrase "sit up" will have been impressed upon her subconscious through constant repetition. Now here's the final lesson to teach your English Foxhound to sit up as soon as she hears the words. There's a good chance, if she has been properly trained, you will merely have to get her out into the room, display to her a treat, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit up or sit" and she'll obey. Then just give her the treat while still in place.
The only requirement for perfection is to train with her several times daily until she will sit up when told and without being shown a snack; give her the snacks only once she has adhered to the command.
Teach Your English Foxhound Other Tricks
You have now the basis for teaching your English Foxhound many other skills. She can now be taught how to beg by moving your hand up and down just in front of her paws, which she will move in sync with yours. She can also 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 teaching a English Foxhound to tolerate being clothed, don't try to make her wear too many things at once. Try at first with a cap. Only after she becomes familiar with that you can put on a coat and slowly introduce her to the other clothing.
Take pleasure in "teaching your English Foxhound the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun at the same time!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about English Foxhounds
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