Are you trying to teach your Whippet to sit? The skill of sitting up is quickly taught to pocket-sized dogs, yet larger pet dogs are another story. It is problematic for them to maintain their equilibrium.
Teach Your Whippet to Sit: Anticipation
Sitting is one of the fundamental skills that should be taught to a Whippet and forms the groundwork for several other skills. To train a Whippet to sit up, put together some treats as a reward, and set your Whippet on her butt in a corner, so that she can’t fall either aft or sideways and has very little or no room to lose balance.
Teach Your Whippet to Sit: Familiarize Her With The Phrase
Keep her from pitching towards you by maintaining 1 hand under her chin and with your second hand dangle her treat above your Whippet’s face. Keep saying deliberately and clearly, “sit.” Do not make her sit up too long at one time, but repeat the instruction routinely and reward her frequently with plenty of praise and snacks.
Teach Your Whippet to Sit: Help Her Balance
During the very first lesson she will demand a lot of support from you to prevent her from falling forward, but as she gains control of the muscles and realises what you want, she will rely less upon your hand to keep her in position. Then you can gradually give your Whippet less support til you’ll merely have to maintain one hand in position 2 or 3 inches from her chin or neck, to be available to stop her from falling forward; in the future you will be able to withdraw the hand and merely dangle the reward right above the level of your Whippet’s head.
Teach Your Whippet To Sit: Remove the Help Gradually Over Time
With steady training your Whippet will sit up for a long time after you set her up. Then she should be set up against your wall, so as to give her a support for her back only. Immediately after she has learned this and can maintain her position effortlessly, practice with her against chair legs, cushions or other things that give her less and less help and support. Subsequently she will learn to maintain her stability and sit without needing something to lean on.
Teach Your Whippet to Sit: Putting It All Together
In the course of all this training the phrase "sit up" will have been impressed upon her subconscious by means of constant repetition. Now comes the final training to teach your Whippet to sit up as soon as she hears the words. Chances are, if she has been properly trained, you will merely have to summon her out into the room, show a treat, hold it up a suitable distance from the ground, say "sit up or sit" and she will do so. Then you'll just give her the reward while still in place.
The only condition for perfection is to practice with your Whippet multiple times a day until she can sit when told and without being shown a snack; give her the treats only after she has complied with the order.
Teach Your Whippet Other Tricks
You have now the technique for teaching your Whippet many other skills. She can now learn to beg by waving your hand up and down in front of her paws, which she'll move in conjunction with yours. She can also learn to salute by bringing one paw to the side of her head, or to keep a toy in her mouth, or to wear a hat on her head or wear other clothes.
When training a Whippet to tolerate being dressed up, do not try to get her to wear too many garments at the same time. Try at first with a cap. Soon after she becomes accustomed to that you could put on a coat and eventually introduce her to the other garments.
Take pleasure in "teaching your Whippet the sit up trick" and most importantly have fun along the way!
Don't forget to check out these other articles about Whippets
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