The last two articles in my dog training tips have covered how to teach your dog or puppy to sit. This is one of the most commonly taught commands or cues. Now here are some ways that you can use the sit in daily life. If you have some favorite ways that I haven’t mentioned, please post a comment below the article.

Seven Ways to Use the Sit with Your Puppy or Dog

  1. If your dog tries to charge into or out of the house, you can teach him to sit until you tell him it’s okay to go.
  2. Ditto for getting in or out of vehicles.
  3. Our dogs sit and stay before going to their bowls to eat. This is convenient, and I must say we’ve impressed a lot of dinner guests with this trick!
  4. Another good time to use the sit is when you think your dog might jump up, like when those dinner guests ring the doorbell and there’s excitement as they enter.
  5. It is useful in connection with teaching a dog to come to you and to sit in front of you.
  6. It could save your dog from injury, or even save its life, if the dog was about to go out on a street with traffic and you called out, “Sit!”
  7. It can make your dog less intimidating to a child who is about to pet your dog, with your permission of course.

A nice benefit of the sit is that dogs generally watch you closely when they are sitting, so you have their attention. Being able to get your dog’s attention when you want it makes life much more pleasant. Teaching your dog to sit also can strengthen the bond between you and the dog, as it’s something you two are doing together. You may think of it as a command, but the dog may think of it as something fun that he is doing with you. And here’s another tip: the more fun you bring to the sit or to any dog training, the more happily your dog will pay attention to you! That’s win-win.

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