Are you attempting to teach your Wirehaired Vizsla to sit? The skill of sitting up is quite easily taught to petite dogs, but bigger pet dogs are another story. It is tricky for them to keep their balance.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla to Sit: Preparing
Sitting is one of the very first techniques that you should teach to a Wirehaired Vizsla and provides the foundation for a large number of other techniques. In order to train a Wirehaired Vizsla to sit up, prep some treats as a reward, and place the Wirehaired Vizsla on her haunches in the corner, to make sure that she is unable to fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to stumble.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Phrase
Keep her from pitching to the front by holding 1 hand on her chin and using the other hand hold her treat above the Wirehaired Vizsla’s nose. Keep saying intelligibly and distinctly, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit too long at one time, but repeat the instruction frequently and reward her regularly with lots of approval and snacks.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla to Sit: Help Her Balance
Throughout the very first lesson she will need considerable support from your hand to stop her from tumbling forward, but as she gets more control of her balancing muscles and starts to understand what you want her to do, she will rely less on your hand to keep her steady. Then you can gradually give her less support til you will merely have to maintain one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be in position to prevent her from falling forward; eventually you can probably take away your hand entirely and just simply hold the reward right over the height of your Wirehaired Vizsla’s face.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla To Sit: Remove the Help Progressively
After consistent training she will sit up for a good while after you set her up. Next she should be set up against a wall, so as to give her a support for her back only. Only after she has learned this and can maintain her posture effortlessly, practice with her up against chair legs, cushions or other items that offer her less and less aid. Sooner or later she will get the hang of how to maintain her stability and sit without something to rest against.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all this training the words "sit up" will have been impressed upon her psyche by regular repetition. Lastly here's the final lesson to teach your Wirehaired Vizsla to sit up as quickly as she hears the words. Chances are, if she has been diligently trained, you will simply have to call her out into the room, display to her a reward, hold it up a reasonable distance from the floor, say "sit up or sit" and she will do so. Then you'll give her the treat while still in position.
The only criteria for perfection is to train with her multiple times daily until she sits up when commanded to and without being shown a snack; give her the snacks only once she has complied with the command.
Teach Your Wirehaired Vizsla Other Tricks
You have now the method for teaching your Wirehaired Vizsla many other tricks. She now can learn how to beg by waving your hand up and down just 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 something in her mouth, or to wear a cap on her head or wear other clothing.
When teaching a Wirehaired Vizsla to tolerate being clothed, do not try to get her to wear too many things at the same time. Try at first with a cap. Soon after she gets accustomed to that you could put on a coat and progressively introduce her to more clothing.
Take joy in "teaching your Wirehaired Vizsla the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun while you're doing it!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Wirehaired Vizslas
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