Dog Health Questions: Dog training question: how do I get her to stay in a 'sit' rather than lie down?

I have an 8 month old female Doberman who is extremely intelligent and trainable, but a very simple task eludes her. When I place her in a sit-stay, she most often lies down instead. At first I thought it might be because I was training on a hardwood floor that might have been too slippery for her, but when I moved her to carpet, she should have had no problem with slipping.

Thanks in advance!

Dog Training Commands - How to Successfully Train Your Dog to Do Certain Commands

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My dog did that too - i stopped the behavior by slowing down the training in that area and correcting the downward movement as soon as it started.

Meaning start by giving the command - sit, then stay - and just standing in front of the dog. Praise like mad after counting to five, then release the command. If the dog started to go down i would give a sharp (but not hard) leash pop bringing her back up. It startled her more than anything. Then i would repeat the exercise 20 or so times just counting to five then moved on to ten seconds. Then to fifteen, then twenty, and so on.

I didn't move on to stepping back away from the dog until she could sit/stay for a solid two minutes. Then i would randomly work on increasing the length of time AND where i stood. Every time she went down, a leash pop brought her back up. It only took maybe a dozen of these corrections over the course of a week before she stopped - which means one to two corrections a day or less.

Leash corrections don't have to be painful or abusive, they merely serve to startle the dog and show the dog that the behavior is not desirable. When paired with praise for GOOD behavior, correction tends to work well. Depending on your dog you may only have to flick your wrist and that could serve as correction.

Certainly won't get far, or anywhere quickly, if the dog is not corrected for the behavior. She may even learn to go down JUST to get the treat on the re-sit.

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• You will need to have the leash in a position where you can correct when she starts going down. This needs to be quick and firm.
  
  Start with VERY SHORT stays. I am serious. 15 seconds. increase by very small amounts, slowly. The trick is to have success you can praise and release (not simultaneously, please). Every time you get any break you must decrease the time!
  
  Don't move away until she is steady up close.
  
  Then back off a tiny bit.
  
  Then move to the right, the left, in back. But close.
  
  Then try a little further away.
  
  This can take many weeks. But you cannot add distance until you have close reliability.
  
  Another thing that will firm it up is training much the same way for the down. Do lots of stand to sit to stand to down to stand to sit to... Avoid sit to down for a while.
  
  You should be doing this in classes as well. Steadiness whilst in a group is very important and different from alone.


• She just doesn't understand that you really want her to remain in a sit while she stays. A down is easier, so she goes downs. Have her sit & tell her stay. If she starts to, or lies down, correct her. Tell her No or Uh Uh or ACKK, whatever you use for a verbal correction. Physically place her back in a sit & repeat stay. When she stays in a sit as you have asked, praise & reward while she is sitting & release. Repeat often. I like to work stays during commercial breaks on TV. Build up to having the dog stay for one whole commercial, then two, then build up to a stay for the whole commercial break. Sometimes ask for a sit stay & sometimes a down stay.


• If you want to be blown away with the results try clicker training
  
  try here
  
  http://www.easydogclickertraining.com there is a short video to give you an idea
  
  or http://www.dogtrainingventures.com
  
  both of these gave me all my answers


• You need to correct her when she does that. when she goes into a down tell her no or give her a voice correction if you know how. then go back to her and try again. give her tons of praise when she does it right.


• wen she lies down say no in a firm voice w/out scolding her and make her sit, give her a treat then say stay and back away, if she doesnt stay simpily say no again and repeat. If she does it right give her more than one treat.


• The dog most deffiatley needs some help. Make her sit then hold a treat above her head. This will force her to sit and not to lie down if she likes the treat. Only give her the treat if she dosn't lie down.


• Try taking the treat in your hand and move it above and towards her head. It will force her to sit. Only reward her when she does the task asked.


• you just train her to do that as much as you can!
  (its marshalls sis)