Dog will not sit for long, my fault.

[sweetlee]

OK I have never been to obedience classes before, but have trained all the family dogs since I was a kid. The basics.
Here is my problem, I of course taught the dog "sit" first. But he is so lazy that he will lay down very shortly after sitting. UH how do I get him back up again? I can sometimes hold treats up and he will get up, or call him, but how to keep him in a sit/stay without laying down? He also knows down, and stay. If this is the worst problem I ever have to overcome I will consider myself very lucky.

Thanks,

Sharon

[AngelBunny]

Why aren't you correcting him, putting him back into a sit, the nano second he starts to slide into a down? You're letting him get away with behavior you don't want.

If you have him on leash, he can't slide into a down.

Tell him to Sit Stay and work on him doing this for 30 seconds at a pop before you release and reward him for a several days. Gradually lengthen the time he has to Sit Stay.

[sweetlee]

You are right, I did not correct him. I never even had a leash on him when I taught him to sit or down or stay. Guess we need to go back to basics, and I jumped the gun. He learns very quickly and is very eager to please, I just don't think he knew what I wanted from him when I kept calling him back up again, because he always comes and sits again. But then he slides down. I will get the leash out and relearn how to sit/stay.
Thanks so much.

Sharon

[Ayoka]

I have been using the clicker for training and I would only click and reward at a high rate when the dog is in a sit and do nothing when it slides down. Basically the idea is to make the sit more rewarding so he's more likely to do it. We started the sit/stay by asking for a sit and waiting a few second then releasing him with "ok" then gradually waiting a feew more seconds before the click and treat and so on.

My guy has a hard time in the sit on slippery floors too so we generally practice longer sits where I know he won't be encouraged to slide down by the slippery floors.

[fostermom]

If you stand directly in front of your dog while he is doing a sit stay (no more than a foot away from him), he should hold the sit as you are physically "blocking" him from laying down. Keep working close to him until he can hold the sit stay for a couple of minutes, then gradually increase the distance between you and your dog.

[sweetlee]

Great ideas and we will work on the carpet, as I know that slippery floor thing, his back end starts to slide on the laminate flooring in the kitchen.
I have never used a clicker but wondered, if you could pick a word, anything that would mean treat like a clicker does and only use it then. Something like awesome, or wowee. Do you clicker trainers think it would give sort of the same effect if it was a word you ONLY used then?
Just wondering.
Thanks and I will have Dodge sit/staying like a pro in no time.
He practically trains himself, once he knows what we want he does it on autopilot.
I LOVE my adopted rottie. We are going to be very happy together for a long long time.

Sharon

[AngelBunny]

Clickers mark behavior. You can use a word to mark behavior, too.