Are you aiming to teach your New Zealand Heading Dog to sit? The technique of sitting up is quite easily taught to very small dogs, yet much bigger dogs are another story. It is tricky for them to maintain their balance.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog to Sit: Anticipation
Sitting is one of the first tricks that should be taught to a New Zealand Heading Dog and provides the groundwork for innumerable other tricks. In order to train a New Zealand Heading Dog to sit up, prep some treats as a perk, and put the New Zealand Heading Dog on her backside in the corner, to make sure that she will not fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to stumble.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Words
Protect her from tilting to the front by maintaining your hand under her chin and with your other hand hold her snack above your New Zealand Heading Dog’s nose. Keep saying deliberately and distinctly, “sit up.” Do not make her sit for too long at any one time, but do repeat the lesson often and reward her often with loads of kudos and treats.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog to Sit: Help Her Keep Her Balance
During the first lesson your New Zealand Heading Dog will require significant help from your hand to stop her from pitching forward, but as she gains more control of the muscles and is aware of what you want, she will depend less and less upon your hand to hold her in position. Gradually, you can give your New Zealand Heading Dog less support till you will merely have to leave one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be available to stop her falling forward; eventually you can most likely withdraw the hand entirely and just simply suspend the treat just above the height of your New Zealand Heading Dog’s face.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog To Sit: Remove the Assistance Slowly And Gradually
With consistent practice she will sit up for a good while after you tell her to. Then she should be set against your wall, so as to offer her a support for her back only. Once she has figured out this and can hold her position easily, rehearse with her against chair legs, cushions or other items that provide her less and less help and support. Sooner or later she will be trained to keep her equilibrium and sit up without needing anything to lean against.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been impressed upon her subconscious by frequent repetition. Last is the final lesson to teach your New Zealand Heading Dog to sit up whenever she hears the words. There's a good chance, if she has been properly instructed, you will only have to summon her out in the room, reveal a treat, hold it up a reasonable distance from the ground, say "sit up or sit" and she'll do so. Then you give her the reward while still in place.
The only criteria for flawlessness is to practice with your New Zealand Heading Dog several times a day until she sits up when told and without being shown a snack; give her the snacks only once she has obeyed the command.
Teach Your New Zealand Heading Dog Other Tricks
You have now the groundwork for teaching your New Zealand Heading Dog many other tricks. 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 coordination with yours. She can also learn to salute by bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to keep an object in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other articles of clothing.
In training a New Zealand Heading Dog to accept being dressed up, don't try to make her wear too many garments simultaneously. Try at first with just a hat. Only after she gets familiar with that you could put on a coat and progressively introduce her to more garments.
Enjoy "teaching your New Zealand Heading 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 New Zealand Heading Dogs
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