How to Teach a Dog to Sit
Teaching your Dog to Sit by Training

Whenever you start teaching your puppy something new it is best to begin inside away from all distractions. The best way to start is to call puppy's name and when it comes to you hold out a treat. The trick is to hold the reward just above the puppy's head so that it must look up and when it does move your hand up and back over the puppy's head until your puppy's bottom touches the floor. As soon as its bottom touches the floor give the treat to it and show your happiness and gratitude for a job well done. Repeat this first part a number of times but right before the puppy's touches the floor say, "Sit." When your puppy has shown that it understands your command "Sit" move your practice times somewhere with some distractions and the try out some practice sessions. If it does well then you can continue progressing but if it doesn't do well then you will need to go back a couple of steps and reinforce the command from the beginning. Whenever your puppy overcomes new distractions and obeys the command try adding more distractions. Make sure to repeat the steps often enough, while using the treat, so that you are sure that your puppy dog understands the connection between the command "Sit" and its bottom being on the floor. Always lavish praise on your dog when it obeys your command but you also want it to learn to be obedient with or without a food reward. For that reason you will want to phase the snack reward out of the practice sessions as soon as the puppy has a good grasp on what it is that you are teaching it. Eventually you want to be able to give the hand signal, say, "Sit" and have your dog respond without hesitation no matter what distractions there are.

Why train puppies: Puppies are usually easier to train. Since they haven't learned a lot of bad habits they have lots of room for good one and so are normally faster. They also more readily accept new people and environments than do older dogs. Even though puppies are easier to train don't expect it to be without lots of hard work. You must work and study hard if you intend to train you puppy well. While you are training it remember that your puppy will do all of the things puppies like to do: chewing, wetting, destroying personal items and furniture and that's just the beginning.