Are you aspiring to teach your Cairn Terrier to sit? The skill of sitting up is regularly taught to compact dogs, yet larger dogs are another story. It is tricky for them to keep their balance.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier to Sit: Preparation
Sitting is one of the fundamental skills that you should teach to a Cairn Terrier and provides the groundwork for various other skills. In order to train a Cairn Terrier to sit up, prepare some treats as a perk, and put your Cairn Terrier on her butt in the corner, so she can’t fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no space to stumble.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Sound of The Words
Stop her from falling forward by holding your hand underneath her chin and with the second hand hold her treat above your Cairn Terrier’s nose. Keep repeating distinctly and intelligibly, “sit up.” Don’t force her to sit for too long at one time, but repeat the training routinely and reward her regularly with plenty of praise and treats.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
Throughout the initial lesson she will require a surprising amount of help from your hand to keep her from pitching forward, but as she gets control of the balancing muscles and realises what you want her to do, she’ll depend less on your hand to keep her steady. Then you can gradually give your Cairn Terrier less help and support till you’ll basically have to keep one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her chin or neck, to be waiting to stop her from falling forward; eventually you will be able to withdraw the hand completely and simply dangle the reward right above the level of your Cairn Terrier’s face.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier To Sit: Remove the Help Gradually Over Time
After steady training your Cairn Terrier will sit up for a good while after you tell her to. Afterward she should be set up against the wall, so as to give her help for her back only. Once she has grasped this and can hold her posture easily, practice with her using chair legs, pillows or other things that offer her less and less support. Sooner or later she will get the hang of how to sustain her balance and sit without needing anything to lean against.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier to Sit: Putting It All Together
During all these lessons the words "sit up" will have been instilled upon her psyche with the assistance of regular repetition. Lastly is the final training to teach your Cairn Terrier to sit up right after she hears the command. There's a good chance, if she has been properly taught, you will just have to get her out in the room, reveal a reward, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit up or sit" and she will do so. Then give her the reward while still in position.
The only prerequisite for excellence is to train with her several times daily until she will sit on command and without being shown a reward; give her the treats only after she has followed the command.
Teach Your Cairn Terrier Other Tricks
You have now the groundwork for teaching your Cairn Terrier many other tricks. She can now learn to beg by waving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in coordination with yours. She also can be taught to salute by moving 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.
While training a Cairn Terrier to tolerate being dressed up, don't try to get her to wear too many garments at the same time. Try at first with a hat. Once she gets used to that you can put on a coat and progressively introduce her to the other clothing.
Delight in "teaching your Cairn Terrier the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun while you're doing it!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Cairn Terriers
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