How Do You Teach A Grey To Sit?

[Guest Tabby]

I have experience with other breeds and I am embarrased to admit it but, I am scared of scaring her. I have never seen her just sit in the two weeks we have owned her. She either stands or lays down. I thought if I caught her sitting I could use that word while she sits, but she wont. she has learned what the word "cookie" is...not sure if that is bad or not yet. is it ok to do the tradition push her bum down while saying sit? Lord, I sound like I have never owned a dog but she is so much more delicate than anyother dog I have owned. Thanks in advance for ideas!!

 

 

Laura

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I wouldn't push on her rear to get her to sit, that probably won't work.

 

I got great advice from PrairieProf on how to teach my gal to sit. Use a hill. With the hound facing down-slope there it's easier on them. I had seen mine in a natural sit out in our yard a few times, but until PraireiProf mentioned it, I hadn't noticed she had always been facing downhill.

 

What worked for me was a really irresistable treat. I used braunschweiger. I took Jayne out to the hill and fed her a couple pieces. Then I slowly and gently used my arm to scoop her back legs out from under her and deposit her butt on the ground (supporting her the whole time) and immediately feeding more treats. I did that a couple times before adding the word.

 

I think it would be best if your hound already knows a few tricks and really trust you before trying the folding method. Jayne had already learned several tricks by this point and understood the concept of training. She learned within about five repetitions and it was a while before we could go into the back yard and she would not automatically sit on that hill to try and earn a treat.

[OwnedBySummer]

I'm sure you'll get a lot of suggestions. There are two I can think of off the top of my head: 1. Back her into a corner, hold the treat up high and back, hopefully she'll sit as her head follows it because she doesn't have much choice. 2. Back her up to her bed, as some prefer to sit down onto something, do the treat thing.

 

Personally, I tried these and it didn't work. Summer just got frustrated and didn't understand. So I carefully did the "regular dog" method of pushing her butt down (making sure those long legs folded), saying the command and treating when her butt hit the ground. It took a fair bit of strength as their butts are stronger than most dogs! She caught on right away and we never looked back.

 

Good luck!

 

[3greytjoys]

Try to set your hound up for success.

 

Watch for the hound to walk towards their bed to lie down naturally. (This is easy with Greys! lol)

Get ready with treat in hand, and quickly move closer to the hound.

Once hound's rear end touches the ground/bed, you jump in to stand directly in front of the dog's body. Your body is blocking the hound (into a natural sit) while preventing dog from lying all the way down. Immediately say "sit" and treat the dog, and praise, praise, praise.

Do this whenever the dog goes to lie down naturally, and the hound will learn "sit" in no time!

 

If desired: A clicker can be used if you want to "click" immediately when the hound's rear end touches the ground (or dog bed), but just treating with food works fine in most cases. A person can make a clicker sound (like horseback riders) if you don't have a clicker training tool available.

 

I've had a number of hounds that do a side sit vs. a straight sit. This is fine as far as I'm concerned considering a Greyhound's body design. Many times they will eventually do a straight sit on their own if it's comfortable for them. Other hounds I teach a straight sit from the start. Greys learn differently than most breeds. Adapting with gentle, positive training is sooo important with Greys.

 

[Guest TheDoggfather]

Out of curiosity... and certainly not meaning to be mean... but, why's it important to you to have your dog sit? My older girl will sit if I ask... but, we just kinda stumbled upon her doing it. My younger girl - well, she looks at me like I have a foot growing out of my head if I ask her to sit... just wasn't an important thing to me to have her do. So, yeah... never seen the young one sit

[rallyp]

One real effective way to teach these guys to sit is to start with down. And then lure them up with a treat. If you start with the treat at their nose and lure them up slowly, you can do the "click" when they hit the sit position. That's how I taught Lima Bean.

[inugrey]

One real effective way to teach these guys to sit is to start with down. And then lure them up with a treat. If you start with the treat at their nose and lure them up slowly, you can do the "click" when they hit the sit position. That's how I taught Lima Bean.

 

absolutely

 

It's pretty much agreed in positive training methods that the push the butt is outdated and not as effective and fun for the dog as the lure.

[Guest bluefiggie]

Tabby, thank you for asking. I have been wondering myself lately since both my greys sit on their own already but I would like to train on command.

These are some good tips so far.

[3greytjoys]

Out of curiosity... and certainly not meaning to be mean... but, why's it important to you to have your dog sit? My older girl will sit if I ask... but, we just kinda stumbled upon her doing it. My younger girl - well, she looks at me like I have a foot growing out of my head if I ask her to sit... just wasn't an important thing to me to have her do. So, yeah... never seen the young one sit

 

OP may have other reasons, but since I posted a teaching method, I will respectfully offer an answer to your excellent question.

I agree that "sit" is least important of any obedience term for a Greyhound. I don't ask a Greyhound to sit for a long time since their bodies are built differently than other breeds. If uncomfortable or painful, I wouldn't ask them to sit at all. So far, no problems with sits from our hounds or fosters.

 

We ask our pack to do a quick "sit" before giving treats, and meals to help keep them focused and calm.

A quick sit is often easier for them than the extra effort it takes for older hounds to lie down and stand up.

We prefer hounds learn to sit, and lie down for car safety reasons, especially when backing up.

Cool weather permitting, selected hounds accompany us to outdoor restaurants, dog-friendly events, human gatherings, etc. (Nice to know how to sit in a smaller space.)

During restaurant visits, we frequently ask them to "sit" on their travel pad upon arrival at our table.

(They lie down after a minute or two, but initially they like watching the restaurant action from a higher perspective.)

We find that well-mannered, obedient hounds are welcome in more public places (and get plenty of extra petting/doting from the public).

 

Other benefits of general obedience training:

A well-mannered hound is more likely to transition smoothly into home life, being accepted and valued as a respected family member.

Hounds that understand obedience gain more self-confidence (which often helps reduce behavior issues).

Keeps their highly intelligent minds more active. (It gives them a new job when they retire from their racing career.)

Responding to an obedience cue could help save their life in an emergency.

Respectful, positive and gentle training helps build a trusting bond between human and Greyhound.

Greyhound will understand common daily helpful tips (like lying down on their bed instead of being underfoot in the kitchen during meal time).

I find Greyhounds eager to please. Most enjoy happy interactive training with their human/s. They enjoy rewards of treats, loving praise, or toys.

Keeping training sessions fun, happy, positive and brief (about 5 minutes), the hounds are happy and proud to learn something new.

Something fun to do with a hound inside on a rainy day.

 

(Edited to increase font to readable size.)

Edited October 12, 2015 by 3greytjoys

[Guest Tabby]

Wow! Love the great replies! The reason we would like her to sit on command is b/c when treating after coming in the house the other dog has to sit to get her treat. I would like Tabby to sit just for a few seconds to get her treat. Also, I think it will help with the stay command b/c we really need to work on not trying to slip out the front door. If I could teach her a few tricks/commands then I hope to work her mind as someone is coming in the door. Plus, all my dogs I have ever had are taught that if on a walk or in public they have to sit down to be petted by other people. I have done obedience and rally work in the past and just want to make sure I am not going to hurt Tabby by making her sit...to be honest until I saw pix on here I didnt think it was physically possible. I wondered how they did it with all those legs!

 

Thanks again for all the greyt advice you guys give!

 

 

Laura

[Guest Trentsmom]

Wow! Love the great replies! The reason we would like her to sit on command is b/c when treating after coming in the house the other dog has to sit to get her treat. I would like Tabby to sit just for a few seconds to get her treat. Also, I think it will help with the stay command b/c we really need to work on not trying to slip out the front door. If I could teach her a few tricks/commands then I hope to work her mind as someone is coming in the door. Plus, all my dogs I have ever had are taught that if on a walk or in public they have to sit down to be petted by other people. I have done obedience and rally work in the past and just want to make sure I am not going to hurt Tabby by making her sit...to be honest until I saw pix on here I didnt think it was physically possible. I wondered how they did it with all those legs!

 

Thanks again for all the greyt advice you guys give!

 

 

Laura

 

True- the posture of a grey in sit postion can be quite amusing. One of mine rolls nto one hip and the other hovers- butt never touches the ground.

[Guest sillyrabbit]

This is all really great advice. I've been trying to get mine to sit as well. On the advice of the rescue we have been trying to do the method where we use a treat to get her head up high and then scoop her back legs out to put her in a sit. Oddly enough it hasn't worked so well.

 

Now I have several more ideas! Going to try the one someone suggested about starting with down and then luring them up. Thanks!

[kudzu]

Today I heard a great suggestion from Lee Livingood. She uses a treat to lure a Greyhound up into a sit from a down. This gets them into a sit easier & quicker. She has found that once they get used to being in a sitting position it becomes easier to get them from a stand into a sit. This is the opposite of what every other trainer has showed me but then again what they showed me never worked for my Greyhounds. Based on my experience I think this a GREYT idea so thought I'd pass it on.

 

Good luck

 

ETA: I should read the other responses before posting. Well, now you have another vote for this method.

Edited June 19, 2011 by kudzu

[greymatters]

One real effective way to teach these guys to sit is to start with down. And then lure them up with a treat. If you start with the treat at their nose and lure them up slowly, you can do the "click" when they hit the sit position. That's how I taught Lima Bean.

 

Today I heard a great suggestion from Lee Livingood. She uses a treat to lure a Greyhound up into a sit from a down. This gets them into a sit easier & quicker. She has found that once they get used to being in a sitting position it becomes easier to get them from a stand into a sit.

...

ETA: I should read the other responses before posting. Well, now you have another vote for this method.

 

Yet another vote for this approach here . This is the method that finally worked for us - we tried everything else to teach Merlin to sit but he just didn't understand what we were asking for. Pushing (gently) on his butt got us absolutely nowhere. Same with holding the treat high and scooping his back legs. Backing him into a corner, nope, just seemed to make him nervous. Then the trainer who taught our greyhound-only training course suggested teaching him to sit *up* from a down, as Rally and kudzu described - and it worked like a charm!

 

We used the clicker method to "shape" him up into a proper sit. Now he's a sitting fool, and will (usually) plop his butt down on command, or any other time he thinks there might be a treat in it for him .

 

 

As to why we wanted to teach Merlin to sit, I think 3greytjoys covered it really well! In our case, our boy is young and rather excitable so we use training as way to keep him focused and calm, and to help him learn to calm himself.

[Guest Figmama]

Ok, this cracks me up and we've had this discussion before. Now, I've trained dogs (not Greys) and competed in obedience so I know the basics of teaching a dog to sit.

I'm telling you, we have had out Grey for over 8 years and I've actually seen him sit twice. Yes, twice!!!!! Nothing I have tried can get that dog to sit. He knows a *down* command and will lay down. He will *over*, roll on his side. He will usually *wait* given a hand command but sit? Ah, nope. No way, no how.

[Guest ravenchilde]

Not going to be adding anything new here, but this is how Miley learned to sit (my wife taught her).

 

1. We taught her "down".

2. Dana lured her up into a sit many many many many times.

3. We let that sit in for a few days.

4. We started backing her up into my arm to get the bum down while she was focused on a treat, after many repetitions of this, she started to figure out that if she bum hit carpet she'd get a treat. We then kept it up until we could convince her to sit on tile, concrete, and grass. Now she'll sit anywhere, sometimes even without rewards.

[GeorgeofNE]

I have experience with other breeds and I am embarrased to admit it but, I am scared of scaring her. I have never seen her just sit in the two weeks we have owned her. She either stands or lays down. I thought if I caught her sitting I could use that word while she sits, but she wont. she has learned what the word "cookie" is...not sure if that is bad or not yet. is it ok to do the tradition push her bum down while saying sit? Lord, I sound like I have never owned a dog but she is so much more delicate than anyother dog I have owned. Thanks in advance for ideas!!

 

 

Laura

 

 

We've had dogs my whole life; George is the first Greyhound in the family.

 

I taught him how to sit exactly the way we've taught every other dog. The old "tuck and fold" method.

 

George is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and it only took him a few days. If he can do it, ANY HOUNDIE can!

[rschultz]

we taught lexie the tuck and fold way. No pushing of the butt Lexie sits to the side not a traditional sit. She is more comfortable with that. I was real proud of her when she went for her therapy test and when the tester came over to us he said "greyhounds don't have to sit for the test"..I said.."look she can", and she did it It is very awkward for them. Try the tuck and fold. good luck and let us know how it goes. Always helps to have their favorite food..lexie's is cantelope

 

we taught lexie the tuck and fold way. No pushing of the butt Lexie sits to the side not a traditional sit. She is more comfortable with that. I was real proud of her when she went for her therapy test and when the tester came over to us he said "greyhounds don't have to sit for the test"..I said.."look she can", and she did it It is very awkward for them. Try the tuck and fold. good luck and let us know how it goes. Always helps to have their favorite food..lexie's is cantelope

here is her car sit

[Guest Ratsby]

I have had my grey Ember for about 6 months and am shocked at how quickly she learned. She learned "banana" and "cookie" right away, but I was nervous about teaching her to sit. Ember learned to sit on command quite by accident. She was getting ready to lay down on her bed and I stopped her and said "sit" and then gave her a treat right away. After a few practice rounds she got it and will now do it easily on command. But she will only sit on her bed or a carpeted area, otherwise her front legs slide out from under her.

[kudzu]

I have had my grey Ember for about 6 months and am shocked at how quickly she learned. She learned "banana" and "cookie" right away, but I was nervous about teaching her to sit. Ember learned to sit on command quite by accident. She was getting ready to lay down on her bed and I stopped her and said "sit" and then gave her a treat right away. After a few practice rounds she got it and will now do it easily on command. But she will only sit on her bed or a carpeted area, otherwise her front legs slide out from under her.

I think this a much better way than physically manipulated a Greyhound, or any dog for that matter, into a sit. Greys in particular seem unsure of people trying to manipulate their bodies into strange positions & handling their back ends. Not all of them, of course, have misgivings about that but many do. Since the "modeling" style of training is unnecessary & in this case has a relatively high potential for causing discomfort, either emotionally or physical, I think it best to try a different approach. My shy girl could not be folded, lured or in any other way manipulated into a sit or down without the use of brute force. I seriously doubt anyone on this forum who only wanted to use the fold method of sit training would have been willing to attempt it on her more than a couple times. She's never so much as snapped at any human but if there were ever a time it would be during something like that. My next Grey was older & already arthritic when I got him. The fold method could have unintentionally caused him pain so not appropriate to him. And my current Grey, who actually would let someone use that method simply learned that when humans crouch down next to him they want him to sit. Not precisely the cue we want for sit, looking more like the "monkey see, monkey do" training approach.

 

If someone has a brand new Grey then they have no real knowledge of each other. Using training methods that require physical manipulations, such as folding into a sit or leash cues, may work. I'm not saying those don't or that those are necessarily wrong. But I do believe that approach has a higher likelyhood of stressing a new dog than a more hands off approach. Certainly the dog should also learn to trust your hands & be comfortable with you & others physically manipulating them but I think it better in the long run for that to be its own training & not the sole method of teaching commands. Hope that makes sense. I also think reward based methods are more appropriate than correction based methods. Correction based can work but as with physical manipulation I think reward based has a higher likelyhood of success & lower chance of inadvertently creating serious side effects.

 

In the long run, as long as you are consistent & have built a relationship of trust with your dog you will be able to find a gentle, effective way to train a sit or nearly any other command the dog is physically capable of. My preferences are in part based on my own physical limitations. Physically manipulating or luring my dogs into most positions is simply not an option or at least not often enough to consistently, properly train a command other than things like "Touch", touch my hand, or "Up", stand up. I prefer my dogs learn to think through a problem and find the answer, at least in part, on their own. They will need to at times not only work at a distance but learn new behaviors at a distance. It just happened to us yesterday. I had loaded/unloaded my girl from the back of the van yesterday morning. When we went to leave though someone has parked to close to my bumper (note to self: do not back the van into those parking spaces) that I couldn't open the back doors. As a result I had to load her from the side door. That was no problem except her tether was far enough back that I could not comfortably reach it. It had been a long day, I was tired & aching. I just did not want to climb into the van to grab the tether. So I asked my girl to get it for me. However, I'd never asked her to pick up an object from the side of a wall & never asked for a retrieve inside the van. Thus began our interchange:

Me: "Get it", pointing to the tether 6" from my fingertips.

Venus: "Mat? You want me on my mat?"

Me: "Get it", pointing again.

Venus: "Mat?", starts to lay down then hesitates. "Not mat?" Looks at me for guidance.

Me: "Try again. Get it"

Venus: "Closer to the wall? I should lay down here instead?"

Me: "Up. Good girl," pointing again, "Get it."

Venus: "Get it? Get what?" Looking down since she's only retrieved things from the floor. [she has an inexperienced trainer, me, with little foresight] "Ah, my leash. You want my leash." She picks up her leash off the floor.

Me: "Oh, good girl. Thank you. Try again. Get it," and I make sure her eyes are on my hand as I move it up from the floor & over to the wall as far back as I can. (I do consider this similar to luring.)

Venus: Moves her head in that direction then looks back at her leash, reaches for it again.

Me: "Venus, watch," waiting for her attention & noticing she is looking stressed.

Venus: "What, what. I don't understand." Now she looks away & tongue flicks. She's stressed.

Me: "Hi sweetie. Touch." As she touches my hand, "Yes. Good girl" I give her a treat. "Down." Another reward. "Up." I wait. "Good girl."

Now she looks happy again. I try one more time, "Get it," while pointing.

Venus: "This?" she touches the tether with her nose.

Me: "Yes. Good girl," and give her a reward.

Venus: "Oh, that. This?!" She quickly grabs it with her mouth, lifts an inch or so then...

Me: "Yes," quickly before she can drop it. Because I know her & know she will drop it.

Venus: "Ah, that's it. Now I know. Here," she picks it up midway up the tether length & tries to hand it to me but it's too short. When she feels resistance she drops it again.

Me: "Good girl. Get it again"

Venus: Looking both excited but a little stressed she, "This? Here," does as asked & this time gets it to my fingertips.

Me: "Yes!! Good girl. Excellent! What a wonderful puppers."

 

I know that was really long to read, though likely no one really read it, but in reality the whole thing took about 90 secs to 2 min. max. That was the first time for a retrieve from a vertical surface, the first retrieve inside a vehicle, the first time I'd asked for a tether retrieve. To her it was all knew but because we'd worked all our prior training in a hands off way with a minimum of luring we had a communication system, rudimentary as it is, built up.

 

[sigh] Sorry, for what seems like rambling but you see the same dog who was scared to death of someone trying to fold her into a sit was able to learn it in a different fashion & later went on to learn a lot of other incredibly useful commands. So maybe, just maybe someone would like to try a hands off approach to sit before stooping, pun intended, to the fold first. It can't hurt & might be the best for your dog.

Edited June 24, 2011 by kudzu

[Guest rjleaman]

I know that was really long to read, though likely no one really read it, but in reality the whole thing took about 90 secs to 2 min. max. That was the first time for a retrieve from a vertical surface, the first retrieve inside a vehicle, the first time I'd asked for a tether retrieve. To her it was all knew but because we'd worked all our prior training in a hands off way with a minimum of luring we had a communication system, rudimentary as it is, built up.

 

[sigh] Sorry, for what seems like rambling but you see the same dog who was scared to death of someone trying to fold her into a sit was able to learn it in a different fashion & later went on to learn a lot of other incredibly useful commands. So maybe, just maybe someone would like to try a hands off approach to sit before stooping, pun intended, to the fold first. It can't hurt & might be the best for your dog.

 

It was wonderful story, and one of the best training lessons I've read in ages.

Thank you.

[Guest BlingDogs]

I wanted to make a video of how I taught Dory to sit, but my camera is only 5 megapixels so it wouldn't be much help.

 

Neither backing into a corner, luring, or pushing her butt down did anything to her, she just looked at me like "what are you trying to do to me, momma?". So what I did was...

 

1. Kneel down on one side of her, while she's standing.

2. Kind of give her a hug, with one arm around her chest and one around her back legs below the thigh.

3. Squeeze your arms together gently (if she resists, give her a break or wait until the next day or so). She should sit easily, because you are putting weight on folding legs.

4. Say "sit" and praise.

 

Eventually, all you will need to do is...

1. Say sit.

2. Tap her chest and back legs lightly.

3. She will probably sit.

 

In the end, you will be able to...

1. Say sit.

2. She will sit.

 

This process took my relatively new grey 3 months to achieve, but she always has to sit for breakfast and dinner so it was practised every day.

 

Good luck!

Edited June 25, 2011 by BlingDogs

[beledi]

One real effective way to teach these guys to sit is to start with down. And then lure them up with a treat. If you start with the treat at their nose and lure them up slowly, you can do the "click" when they hit the sit position. That's how I taught Lima Bean.

That is the method I use.

[NevadasMom]

For Trolley it was the magic of pizza crust. She learned in about 5 minutes...

[Gryffenne]

Sammi can sit, but not for very long, and it is the typical frog-butt style. I taught her by holding the treat, saying "Sit" and gently tap her back-end. Only the weight of my hand, really. When she sat, I praised her, "Good Sit!" and she received her treat. We did this usually after coming in from going potty. I think this method helped with us because she is used to me touching parts of her body when I want a reaction. ie~ I tap the leg of the foot I am going to lift if I need to check it or clip nails.

 

Unfortunately, that created a little monster because for a while when she wanted a treat, she would act like she had to go potty really, really, badly just so that we could be outside to come inside and get a treat. Once she figured out that she actually had to produce something outside, and that Mommy isn't easily fooled by the "ghost squat", she stopped that form of begging. Now, tho, she will come in from outside and sit facing the treat box and look from it... to you.. back to the box... back to you, as if to say "They're right there in case you forgot!" A few times I have tripped over her because she dropped to a sit behind me and I was still taking my shoes off.

 

She now sits for anything she really wants, even without me telling her to sit. Food... attention...

 

 

 

....

 

 

 

 

...bling...

 

 

She ended up having about 12 necklaces around her neck that day and parading around the house in a very regal manner, showing off her bling. She's looking at my best friend who is holding another necklace up next to me. (The blurriness is due to her teeth chattering in excitement.)