How to teach your dog to sit, drop it, and come?

Question

I've looked through articles about training your dog, and they tell me all kinds of things like have treats ready and praise them like there's no tomorrow, but they don't tell me the actual proccess of teaching it to sit.
I know you can't just say sit and push it down, dogs dont speak english after all. Any ideas?

I AM ALSO LOOKING FOR THE "DROP IT" AND "COME" commands. Thanks!

Answer 1

The best way to teach the sit command is in slow steps using positive reinforcement only.

Start this way: Get a treat in your hand, one that the dog really really loves, and, while the dog is standing, place your hand against the dog's nose. Slowly lift your hand over your dog's head, and toward its back until the dog is looking straight up (almost over his body) at the treat. If you move the treat a little further, the dog will naturally go into a sit. Say sit and treat. Do this over and over. After a couple of minutes, your dog should begin to understand what you are expecting of them. DO NOT use "sit" as a command until you are sure the dog knows what you want.

"Drop It" is a bit more difficult. The best thing to do is offer the dog a treat when it brings a toy back to you. When the dog drops the toy, say "Drop" (or "Out!") then treat. Repeat over and over until the dog shows an understanding, then try it as a command.

Come is just about making the dog understand you want him or her by your side. Treat the dog while it is standing next to you (this works well if you wait until the dog makes eye contact, then treat) and say "Come". Repeat over and over. When your dog walks away, be animated in calling it back, but only say his or her name once. Clap, whistle, jump up and down or, if all else fails, run in the opposite direction. Dogs will naturally follow something running away from them. When your dog returns to you, reward and say "come!". Repeat over and over until the dog understands.

IMPORTANT: If the dog goofs and doesn't follow a command, DO NOT PUNISH OR YELL AT THEM. The LAST thing you want to do is take the "fun" out of training. Make the commands as fun as possible and reward heavily when your dog does something right. And remember, NEVER repeat a command more than once.

A great book to read about this subject is "The Idiot's Guide to Positive Reinforcement." You should also check out www.youtube.com/zakgeorge. Zak is a trainer of disc dogs, but has some great videos explaining the method behind training dogs on basic obedience and with the clicker.

Answer 2

This is what I did:

I held the treat in my hand and the natural response from your dog is to sit. As soon as his bottom hits the floor, say "SIT" and give him the treat. Don't say it before, only when his butt hits the floor. Keep repeating that and after a while. When you say Sit, he will sit.

For come, call him and tap your thighs and he should come running and then you can say COME and give him the treat.

For drop it or leave it, when he has something in his mouth, show him the treat and when he lets go, say drop it and give him the treat.

The key is to say the command as he's doing it. He has no idea what you want when you say sit, come or drop it. But by saying those commands as he's doing it, he's going to associate the words with the actions.

Like someone else said, don't punish your dog for not obeying. I just go uh uh and then do it again.

As your pup gets older, you can space out the treats. I teach the come commands during walks. Come is very important in case of emergencies. Sometimes he'll get a treat, sometimes he won't but he won't know which is which. Eventually you can phase the treats out completely.

You should also do this every single day. About 10-15 minutes a day.

Answer 3

For 'sit', this is what you need to do. Have your dog on a short leash (so he can't run around, but can stand and sit comfortably) and stand on the other end of the leash so you have both hands free. Hold a treat in your hand, and make sure he knows it's there, but don't give it to him yet. Then, move the treat vertically upwards above his nose. His nose should follow the treat and he will automatically sit. If he doesn't, you can push down on his bottom very lightly to encourage him. The instant he starts to sit (not before), say "Sit!" clearly and when he does sit, feed him the treat and shower him with copious amounts of praise.

For "come", the trick is to give the command when he is already coming to you. Hold a treat, or his favourite toy. When he starts to come to you, say "come" clearly and loudly. When he gets to you, take a full 30 seconds and while repeating this recall - feed him the treat and give him a good cuddle. When he can do this three times in a row without failing at home, practise it in different environments. This is very important. Practise it outside your house, then in a carpark, then in a park. It might take awhile but he will eventually get it. If you are nervous about him running off when you are practising outdoors, you can get a long retractable leash and keep him on it while you train.

Answer 4

Your dog won't learn all of these at once. Start with the simple commands first and work your way up as the dog gets older. Every dog learns a different way and at a different speed.
The way I have trained my dogs is to show them the treat in my hand and then close my fist. I keep repeating the command I want them to do " Sit........sit.......sit" and after a couple of times I would actually put them in the sitting position and reward them. Eventually my dogs would catch on but one thing you have to remember is vocabulary. Remember that dogs will learn only about 30 words so keep things short. "sit............good boy" and thats it.
Training a dog requires alot of patience so make sure your willing to put in the time when starting a "training session". Good luck and all the best!

Answer 5

Of course your dog can learn all these at once.

Sit: Have your dog on a lead, show him a treat. Slowly move the treat back over his head toward his butt. His nose will go up, and his butt will go down. As his rear starts to lower say Sit, as soon as it hits the ground give the treat and praise lavishly. Repeat. If your dog backs up instead of sitting, lessen the slack in the leash so he can't.

Gradually ween out the treats. After he gets good at it start treating every other time for awhile, then every third, then mix up and make it totally random. This will keep the command "fresh". Teaching Sit this way teaches voice command and hand signal at one time.

Come: Have your dog on a leash, start with a small 6 footer. let him wander out, then call "dog's name" Come. Reel him in if need be, when he gets to you praise him to no end, and give lots of treats. Repeat. Gradually use longer and longer leads until he is coming at a good distance.

Never never punish your dog if you call him to you. Doing so will ruin the Come command. It may not happen the first time, but it will happen. If your dog comes to you it cancels out any misbehavior he was doing. He won't understand that you are mad because he was chewing something he shouldn't, he'll think you are mad because he came to you.


Drop it: Give your dog a toy, tell him Drop It as you take the toy out of his mouth. Treat and praise. If you can't take it out of his mouth, push it toward the back of his mouth instead, this will make him spit it out. Praise and treat lavishly. Repeat. This is a command that starts out slow, but once your dog figures it out progress rather quickly. If your dog gets really good at it you'll be able to hand him a tiny piece of a very yummy treat and tell him to drop it, and he will spit it out. Its a trick that really impresses people. Of course the dog does get the little treat and a bigger one afterwards as well.


Good luck, and Have fun.

Answer 6

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://tr.im/H3J67

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 7

Im sorry but i only know how to teach them to sit. My dog when i say bad boy he drop it or get away from where i dont want him to be. When i say come here (dog name) he acually comes i repeatedly say it until he understands. First they need to kno there names. Once they know there name you should teach it to come first and when you say come here (dog name) and if it does come you have to say good boy/girl and give it a treat and repeated until it does understand. On sit i jus acually show a treat to my dog and say sit and if he doesnt i push his behind down without force not much force and if he sits then say Good boy/girl and give the treat. Repeat it after.

Reminder* You should not train your dog more than five minute. They would get very tired.

Answer 8

I taught my dog all of these tricks, but one at a time...the easiest is sit...may I also add that I taught him hand signals to go along with the verbal command--I figured I would do this in case he has hearing issues when he gets older and I can snap to get his attention and show him the signal and he will sit!! Be patient and consistant--he will learn--he just wants to please you---and he wants the training treats as well!!

Answer 9

Training your dog takes alot of patience . Its all about getting the dog to obey you on its own will and not trying to force it to happen.
Here is a site that teaches you a few basic commands , they also have some videos.
http://www.loveyourdog.com/training.html

Answer 10

From the mouse to the elephant all are taught by food rewards. Break each action into three or four steps and teach the steps first then link them together. Like the first step action is always stop . Don't use words unless it is to train you but hand signs are good.