Are you making an attempt to teach your Newfoundland to sit? The skill of sitting up is quickly taught to pocket-sized dogs, however much bigger dogs are a different story. It is tricky for them to sustain their equilibrium.
Teach Your Newfoundland to Sit: Readiness
Sitting is one of the 1st tricks that should be taught to your Newfoundland and is the groundwork for quite a few other techniques. To train a Newfoundland to sit up, put together some treats as a reward, and set your Newfoundland on her haunches in a corner, so that she can’t fall either backward or sideways and has very little or no space to stumble.
Teach Your Newfoundland to Sit: Acquaint Her With The Words
Protect her from pitching forward by sticking your hand beneath her chin and with your second hand hold her treat above the Newfoundland’s nose. Keep repeating intelligibly and distinctly, “sit up.” Don’t make her sit up too long at any one time, however repeat the training routinely and reward her frequently with loads of appreciation and snacks.
Teach Your Newfoundland to Sit: Help Her Stay Balanced
During the initial lesson your Newfoundland will require quite a bit of support from you to keep her from tumbling forward, but as she gains more control of her balancing muscles and recognizes what you want her to do, she’ll count less and less on your hand to keep her steady. Gradually, you can give her less support til you’ll merely have to keep one hand in position two or three inches from her chin or neck, to be prepared to prevent her falling forward; later you can easily take away the hand entirely and just simply hold the treat right above the height of your Newfoundland’s face.
Teach Your Newfoundland To Sit: Remove the Help Progressively
After steady practice your Newfoundland will sit up well after you command her. Afterward she should be set up against your wall, so as to provide her support for her back only. Soon after she has figured out this and can keep her position easily, rehearse with her against chair legs, pillows or other items that give her less and less support. In time she will figure out how to sustain her balance and sit up in the absence of anything to lean against.
Teach Your Newfoundland to Sit: Putting It All Together
Throughout all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been ingrained upon her mind through regular repetition. Now comes the final lesson to teach your Newfoundland to sit up whenever she hears the phrase. There's a great chance, if she has been carefully trained, you will just have to summon her out in the room, display a treat, hold it up a suitable distance from the ground, say "sit up" and she'll obey. Then give her the treat while still in position.
The only criteria for flawlessness is to rehearse with her multiple times daily until she can sit up when told and without being shown a treat; give her the treats only after she has followed the command.
Teach Your Newfoundland Other Tricks
You have now the groundwork for teaching your Newfoundland many other skills. She now can learn how to beg by moving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in conjunction with yours. She also can learn to salute by bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to hold a toy in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other clothes.
While teaching a Newfoundland to submit to being dressed up, do not try to get her to wear too many garments simultaneously. Try at first with a cap. Once she gets familiar with that you could put on a coat and gradually introduce her to more garments.
Delight in "teaching your Newfoundland the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun at the same time!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Newfoundlands
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