Are you struggling to teach your Irish Water Spaniel to sit? The skill of sitting up is quickly taught to compact dogs, though larger pooches are another story. It’s problematic for them to keep their balance.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel to Sit: Prep work
Sitting is one of the 1st techniques that you should teach to your Irish Water Spaniel and lays the groundwork for many other techniques. In order to train a Irish Water Spaniel to sit up, put together some treats as a reward, and put the Irish Water Spaniel on her rump in a corner, so she can’t fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Sound of The Words
Keep her from falling to the front by securing one hand under her chin and with your other hand hold the snack above her face. Keep saying clearly and intelligibly, “sit.” Don’t force her to sit up for too long at one time, but do repeat the instruction often and reward her regularly with lots of approval and snacks.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel to Sit: Help Her Balance
In the very first lesson your Irish Water Spaniel will require considerable help from your hand to keep her from pitching forward, but as she gets more control of the muscles and learns what you want her to do, she’ll count less upon your hand to keep her steady. Gradually, you can give your Irish Water Spaniel less help and support until you’ll merely have to leave one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be prepared to prevent her from falling forward; later you will be able to remove this hand completely and merely hold the reward right over the level of her head.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel To Sit: Remove the Assistance Incrementally
With frequent training she will stay seated for a long time after you tell her to. Next she should be set up against your wall, so as to give her a support for her back. Only after she has grasped this and can keep her position easily, rehearse with her using chair legs, cushions or other objects that provide her less and less help. In time she will understand how to keep her stability and sit up in the absence of anything to rest on.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel to Sit: Putting It All Together
During all these lessons the words "sit up" will have been impressed upon her mind by means of persistent repetition. Now comes the final lesson to teach your Irish Water Spaniel to sit up as quickly as she hears the command. There's a good chance, if she has been properly instructed, you will only have to call her out in the room, reveal to her a reward, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit" and she will obey. Then you give her the treat while still in place.
The only condition for perfection is to rehearse with your Irish Water Spaniel several times daily until she will sit up when commanded to and without being shown a treat; give her the treats only once she has followed the direction.
Teach Your Irish Water Spaniel Other Tricks
You have now the fundamentals for teaching your Irish Water Spaniel many other skills. She can now learn 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 be taught to salute by moving one paw up to the side of her head, or to hold an object in her mouth, or to wear a cap on her head or wear other articles of clothing.
In instructing a Irish Water Spaniel to accept being dressed up, don't try to get her to wear too many clothes at the same time. Try at first with just a hat. After she gets adjusted to that you could put on a jacket and gradually introduce her to more clothes.
Delight in "teaching your Irish Water Spaniel the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun along the way!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Irish Water Spaniels
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