Are you making an attempt to teach your English Shepherd to sit? The technique of sitting up is quickly taught to petite dogs, however much bigger dogs are another story. It is tough for them to maintain their equilibrium.
Teach Your English Shepherd to Sit: Readiness
Sitting up is one of the very first skills that should be taught to your English Shepherd and is the foundation for myriad other tricks. To train a English Shepherd to sit up, prepare some treats as a perk, and put the English Shepherd on her haunches in the corner, so that she won’t fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no space to stumble.
Teach Your English Shepherd to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Command
Keep her from tilting to the front by maintaining one hand underneath her chin and with the other hand dangle her treat above your English Shepherd’s face. Keep repeating intelligibly and distinctly, “sit up.” Don’t force her to sit for too long at any one time, but repeat the training regularly and reward her often with plenty of approval and snacks.
Teach Your English Shepherd to Sit: Help Her Maintain Balance
Throughout the initial lesson she will demand quite a bit of help from you to prevent her from falling forward, but as she gets better control of her muscles and comprehends what you want, she will rely less on your hand to keep her in position. Then you can gradually give your English Shepherd less help until you will merely have to keep one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her neck or chin, to be in place to prevent her falling forward; later you may withdraw this hand completely and simply dangle the snack just above the level of her face.
Teach Your English Shepherd To Sit: Remove the Help Slowly
After frequent training she will stay seated long after you command her. The next step is she should be set up against a wall, so as to provide her a support for her back only. Immediately after she has mastered this and can maintain her place easily, rehearse with her against chair legs, cushions or other items that provide her less and less assistance. At some point she will be trained to maintain her stability and sit without having anything to lean against.
Teach Your English Shepherd to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all these lessons the words "sit up" will have been instilled upon her psyche through persistent repetition. Lastly comes the final training to teach your English Shepherd to sit up whenever she hears the words. It's highly likely, if she has been diligently taught, you will just have to get her out into the room, show a reward, hold it up a reasonable distance from the ground, say "sit" and she will obey. Then give her the reward while still in place.
The only prerequisite for perfection is to train with her several times a day until she will sit up when commanded to and without being shown a treat; give her the snacks only after she has followed the order.
Teach Your English Shepherd Other Tricks
You have now the technique for teaching your English Shepherd many other skills. She now can be taught to beg by moving your hand up and down just in front of her paws, which she'll move in conjunction with yours. She can also be taught to salute by moving one paw up to the side of her head, or to keep an object in her mouth, or to wear a cap on her head or wear other clothes.
While teaching a English Shepherd to accept being clothed, don't try to make her wear too many garments at the same time. Try her at first with just a cap. Once she becomes used to that you can put on a coat and incrementally introduce her to more clothes.
Delight in "teaching your English Shepherd the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun in the process!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about English Shepherds
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