Working on basic training is a great way to bond with your dog, increase their skillset, build their confidence, and improve their quality of life as well as your own. We always use positive reinforcement to teach dogs which behaviors are appropriate, and what we want to see more of. Did you know that there’s plenty more work to be done after your dog successfully knows how to perform a basic cue like “sit”?

When we start teaching a new cue, we want as few distractions as possible, so the animal can focus on the task at hand. Once they’re able to successfully perform the action, we can start to increase the “Three D’s”: distance, duration, and distraction. When we first teach “sit”, we generally start with a treat in our hand and lure the dog into looking up at the treat, causing their butt to sit down.

Once they’re consistently sitting and know the verbal and hand cue, we can take a couple additional steps back and have them work on sitting while we’re further away. We can work on duration by rewarding them for sitting for increasing lengths of time and eventually teach them to sit until given a release cue.

We can also work on having them sit with distractions present. Start with small distractions like focusing on sitting in the kitchen while someone opens the fridge, or sitting in the front yard while a neighbor walks by. From here, we can work up to bigger distractions like practicing “sit” while at a park with various stimuli nearby.

Focusing on basic cues while adding distractions, distance, and increasing duration, is a great way to work on your dog’s concentration, impulse control, and continue to strengthen and build your relationship!