Are you aspiring to teach your Bernese Mountain Dog to sit? The technique of sitting up is regularly taught to little dogs, however much larger pet dogs are another story. It is difficult for them to sustain their equilibrium.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog to Sit: Groundwork
Sitting up is one of the first skills that you should teach to a Bernese Mountain Dog and is the groundwork for numerous other techniques. In order to train a Bernese Mountain Dog to sit up, prepare some treats as a reward, and place the Bernese Mountain Dog on her haunches in a corner, to ensure that she can’t fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no room to stumble.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Sound of The Words
Prevent her from falling towards you by sticking 1 hand on her chin and with the other hand dangle her treat above her nose. Keep repeating clearly and deliberately, “sit up.” Do not force her to sit too long at one time, however repeat the instruction often and reward her regularly with a lot of adoration and treats.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog to Sit: Help Her Keep Her Balance
In her initial lesson she will demand quite a bit of help from your hand to keep her from falling forward, but as she gets better control of her stabilizing muscles and sees what you want her to do, she will depend less and less on your hand to hold her in position. Then you can gradually give your Bernese Mountain Dog less assistance until you will just have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from her neck or chin, to be available to prevent her from falling forward; eventually you can remove this hand completely and simply dangle the reward right above the level of her head.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog To Sit: Remove the Help Gradually Over Time
With regular training she will stay seated well after you make her. Next she should be set up against a wall, so as to give her help for her back only. Only after she has gotten the knack of this and can maintain her place easily, practice with her using chair legs, pillows or other things that provide her less and less assistance. Subsequently she will get the hang of how to sustain her equilibrium and sit up in the absence of anything to rest on.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog to Sit: Putting It All Together
In the course of all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been instilled upon her psyche through constant repetition. Last comes the final lesson to teach your Bernese Mountain Dog to sit up whenever she hears the phrase. There's a good chance, if she has been carefully taught, you will merely have to get her out in the room, display a reward, hold it up a suitable distance from the floor, say "sit" and she will do so. Then you give her the snack while still in position.
The only criteria for flawlessness is to practice with her several times daily until she will sit on command and without being shown a snack; give her the rewards only after she has adhered to the command.
Teach Your Bernese Mountain Dog Other Tricks
You have now the method for teaching your Bernese Mountain 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 bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to hold a wooden pipe in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other clothes.
While instructing a Bernese Mountain Dog to submit to being clothed, do not try to get her to wear too many items at one time. Try her at first with just a cap. Soon after she gets adjusted to that you can put on a coat and slowly introduce her to the other garments.
Take joy in "teaching your Bernese Mountain Dog the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun at the same time!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Bernese Mountain Dogs
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