Are you attempting to teach your Norwegian Elkhound to sit? The talent of sitting up is easily taught to very small dogs, however much bigger pooches are another story. It’s tough for them to maintain their balance.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound to Sit: Groundwork
Sitting is one of the most basic skills that you should teach to your Norwegian Elkhound and provides the groundwork for many other skills. In order to train a Norwegian Elkhound to sit up, prep some treats as a reward, and place your Norwegian Elkhound on her butt in a corner, so that she is not able to fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Sound of The Words
Stop her from falling towards you by sticking 1 hand underneath her chin and with your other hand dangle the reward above your Norwegian Elkhound’s nose. Keep saying intelligibly and clearly, “sit up.” Don’t make her sit up too long at any one time, but repeat the instruction regularly and reward her frequently with loads of praise and treats.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
During the initial lesson your Norwegian Elkhound will demand significant assistance from you to stop her from falling forward, but as she gains control of her stabilizing muscles and starts to understand what you want, she’ll depend less upon your hand to keep her steady. Gradually, you can give your Norwegian Elkhound less help and support til you will merely have to leave one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her neck or chin, to be in position to prevent her from falling forward; eventually you will be able to take away the hand and merely hold the treat right over the height of your Norwegian Elkhound’s head.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound To Sit: Remove the Assistance Eventually
With consistent practice she will sit up long after you tell her to. Afterward she should be set against your wall, so as to offer her a support for her back only. Once she has understood this and can keep her position easily, rehearse with her up against chair legs, pillows or other items that give her less and less support. Sooner or later she will learn to sustain her stability and sit without relying on anything to lean on.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all these lessons the command "sit up" will have been impressed upon her mind through regular repetition. Lastly here's the final lesson to teach your Norwegian Elkhound to sit up as quickly as she hears the words. There's a great chance, if she has been carefully taught, you will merely have to call her out into the room, reveal to her a snack, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit up" and she will obey. Then you'll just give her the treat while still in place.
The only criteria for flawlessness is to train with her multiple times a day until she can sit up when told and without being shown a snack; give her the treats only once she has adhered to the command.
Teach Your Norwegian Elkhound Other Tricks
You have now the groundwork for teaching your Norwegian Elkhound many other tricks. She can now learn to beg by waving your hand up and down just in front of her paws, which she will move in rhythm with yours. She also can learn to salute by bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to keep something in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other clothing.
When instructing a Norwegian Elkhound to accept being dressed up, don't try to make her wear too many garments at one time. Try her at first with a cap. Once she becomes adjusted to that you could put on a coat and progressively introduce her to more clothing.
Take joy in "teaching your Norwegian Elkhound the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun while you're doing it!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Norwegian Elkhounds
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