Are you attempting to teach your King Charles Spaniel to sit? The technique of sitting up is easily taught to smaller dogs, but larger canines are another story. It’s challenging for them to maintain their equilibrium.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel to Sit: Prep work
Sitting is one of the fundamental tricks that you should teach to your King Charles Spaniel and is the foundation for plenty of other tricks. To train a King Charles Spaniel to sit up, prep some snacks as a reward, and place the King Charles Spaniel on her rump in the corner, so she is unable to fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no room to lose balance.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Words
Keep her from falling towards you by holding your hand beneath her chin and using your other hand hold the snack above her face. Keep saying clearly and intelligibly, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit for too long at any one time, but do repeat the instruction often and reward her frequently with plenty of appreciation and treats.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
Throughout the very first lesson your King Charles Spaniel will require considerable support from you to keep her from pitching forward, but as she gains more control of her stabilizing muscles and is aware of what you want her to do, she will count less and less on your hand to hold her steady. Then you can gradually give her less support till you’ll merely have to leave one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be prepared to stop her falling forward; in the future you can probably remove your hand entirely and just simply suspend the snack right above the level of your King Charles Spaniel’s head.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel To Sit: Remove the Assistance Over Time
After frequent practice your King Charles Spaniel will stay seated for a long time after you tell her to. Next she should be set up against a wall, so as to offer her a support for her back. After she has gotten the hang of this and can maintain her position effortlessly, rehearse with her using chair legs, pillows or other items that provide her less and less support. In time she will be able to preserve her balance and sit up without having anything to rest on.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been instilled upon her mind through regular repetition. Now here's the final lesson to teach your King Charles Spaniel to sit up as soon as she hears the phrase. There's a good chance, if she has been diligently taught, you will simply have to summon her out into the room, reveal a snack, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit up" and she will obey. Then just give her the treat while still in place.
The only criteria for flawlessness is to practice with your King Charles Spaniel several times daily until she can sit up when told and without being shown a treat; give her the rewards only once she has adhered to the command.
Teach Your King Charles Spaniel Other Tricks
You have now the method for teaching your King Charles Spaniel many other skills. She can now learn how to beg by waving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in rhythm with yours. She can also be taught to salute by bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to hold something in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other articles of clothing.
While teaching a King Charles Spaniel to tolerate being clothed, do not try to make her wear too many clothes simultaneously. Try at first with just a cap. Soon after she gets accustomed to that you could put on a coat and steadily introduce her to the other clothes.
Enjoy "teaching your King Charles Spaniel the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun in the process!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about King Charles Spaniels
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