Are you struggling to teach your American Eskimo Dog to sit? The technique of sitting up is regularly taught to compact dogs, yet much larger dogs are a different story. It’s hard for them to keep their balance.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog to Sit: Preparation
Sitting up is one of the first skills that you should teach to your American Eskimo Dog and lays the ground work for a large number of other tricks. To train a American Eskimo Dog to sit up, put together some treats as a perk, and put the American Eskimo Dog on her rump in the corner, so that she is not able to fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Phrase
Prevent her from tilting towards you by sticking one hand under her chin and with your second hand hold her reward above her nose. Keep saying intelligibly and clearly, “sit.” Do not force her to sit for too long at any one time, however repeat the instruction regularly and reward her frequently with loads of appreciation and snacks.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
Throughout her beginner lesson your American Eskimo Dog will require considerable support from your hand to stop her from falling forward, but as she gains control of the balancing muscles and realizes what you want, she’ll depend less and less upon your hand to keep her in position. Then you can gradually give her less support till you’ll merely have to maintain one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be in place to stop her from falling forward; later you can probably remove your hand and simply hold the reward just above the height of your American Eskimo Dog’s head.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog To Sit: Remove the Help Gradually
After constant training your American Eskimo Dog will stay seated for a long time after you get her to sit. Next she should be set against a wall, so as to give her help for her back only. Only after she has picked up this and can hold her place easily, rehearse with her up against chair legs, pillows or other items that provide her less and less aid. Sooner or later she will grasp how to sustain her stability and sit up without anything to rest on.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog to Sit: Putting It All Together
During all these lessons the phrase "sit up" will have been instilled upon her mind through regular repetition. Now comes the final lesson to teach your American Eskimo Dog to sit up right after she hears the words. Most likely, if she has been carefully taught, you will just have to summon her out in the room, show to her a reward, hold it up a suitable distance from the ground, say "sit" and she'll obey. Then give her the treat while still in position.
The only criteria for perfection is to practice with your American Eskimo Dog several times daily until she sits on command and without being shown a treat; give her the snacks only once she has followed the direction.
Teach Your American Eskimo Dog Other Tricks
You have now the foundation for teaching your American Eskimo Dog many other tricks. She can now be taught to beg by waving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she will move in coordination with yours. She also can be taught to salute by moving one paw to the side of her head, or to hold a toy in her mouth, or to wear a cap on her head or wear other clothes.
When training a American Eskimo Dog to accept being dressed up, don't try to get her to wear too many clothes simultaneously. Try her at first with just a hat. Only after she gets familiar with that you could put on a coat and slowly introduce her to the other clothing.
Enjoy "teaching your American Eskimo Dog the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun while you're doing it!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about American Eskimo Dogs
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