New Member--Old Fur-Mom..

[Guest debi_s]

Hi,

I would say my grey is having trouble learning to "sit"--however, I realize that it is MY problem TEACHING the command.

 

I am a previous greyhound mom, Lori, lived 13 1/2 years and was the love of our home!!! After losing her to cancer it took us another 5 years to build up the courage to do it again and adopted Flame from Greyhound Friends of NC in Feb 2011.

 

2 days after welcoming her into our home my father died and life has been a bit upside down until now. I have enrolled Flame in Obedience classes (with the intention of getting her pet therapy certified) -- (I am a Hospice Nurse). First class did not go well----

 

Question: How can I better teach the "sit" command AND (**!!!**) is there possibly a training class/instructor close to my area (Gaffney, SC-Upstate SC) that is more 'in tune' with greyhounds???

 

Thanks in advance for all the help and advice I KNOW you will have for me!!!

[jetcitywoman]

I'll be the first to ask... just curious... why does she have to learn sit?

[robinw]

I don't have any advice. Even after attending obedience school, Treasure never learned how to sit. I think it's a good thing for them to know and fun to learn...if they learn

[Guest debi_s]

I'll be the first to ask... just curious... why does she have to learn sit?

 

 

Thanks for asking !!!! Because the lady that is the "expert" insists that she cannot certify the dog unless she follows the "sit" command.

[Guest IndyHound]

what I did with Beckett and am now doing with Goldie is this. I would hold a treat in my Left hand and gently press inwards at the bend in his hind legs. Start very slowly or they'll get scared and when the butt hits the floor say sit and hand them the treat. It took a few days before he got it. But now looks like he's trying to curtsy because his left front leg goes over the right and he bows.

[Guest debi_s]

what I did with Beckett and am now doing with Goldie is this. I would hold a treat in my Left hand and gently press inwards at the bend in his hind legs. Start very slowly or they'll get scared and when the butt hits the floor say sit and hand them the treat. It took a few days before he got it. But now looks like he's trying to curtsy because his left front leg goes over the right and he bows.

 

After what happened at the first class Flame is 'freaking out' when I say the word sit---but, this sounds GREAT!!!! She will do fine...just need to get MY head straight!!

[Guest BrianRke]

Welcome to GreyTalk Some greyhounds just wont sit (period). Sometimes greyhounds can be exempt from the "sit" command when becoming a therapy dog since it isnt a "natural" thing for them to do.

 

If the "expert" is an expert, she should know that.

[Guest debi_s]

Welcome to GreyTalk Some greyhounds just wont sit (period). Sometimes greyhounds can be exempt from the "sit" command when becoming a therapy dog since it isnt a "natural" thing for them to do.

 

If the "expert" is an expert, she should know that.

 

 

My thoughts--thanks.....Thought about looking for a class with someone who obviously knows greys a bit better.

[GeorgeofNE]

what I did with Beckett and am now doing with Goldie is this. I would hold a treat in my Left hand and gently press inwards at the bend in his hind legs. Start very slowly or they'll get scared and when the butt hits the floor say sit and hand them the treat. It took a few days before he got it. But now looks like he's trying to curtsy because his left front leg goes over the right and he bows.

 

 

This is the tried and true "tuck and fold," and how we've taught every dog my family has ever had how to sit.

 

If George can learn it, I am pretty sure ANY dog can.

 

Oh sure, it's not pretty. His butt doesn't really touch the ground, but he assumes the position.

 

I find if you kind of stand so their rear end is in a corner, it makes it easier too.

 

Do not buy into the "Greyhounds can't sit" hoo haa. They might not sit on their own very often, but they CAN do it.

[Guest debi_s]

@greyaholic--Thanks!!! and so true.....I could actually get Flame to 'occasionally' do something of a 'sit'--and I see her sit in the yard often...but the slick floors at the training class (she was doing good--just unsure)...then the rather large lady SAT on her to MAKE her sit--it was not pretty... actually, if I had a video camera I would likely be $10,000 richer--hahahahaha

 

Thanks for all the advice--

[oldrunners]

All but one of mine learned to sit. Penny, well, she has other talents that I'm assuming will show up one day. However, there are many pet certifying agencies out there, and many don't require the sit. Therapy Dogs International, and Therapy Dogs Incorporated are two I can think of right now. For that matter, some facilities don't have a certification as a requirement. One of the places I visit just requires an interview with you and the dog, to determine that you are both appropriate candidates. One caution, tho--if certified, you carry your own insurance. If you are visiting as a pet therapy team without certification at a facility that doesn't require certification, make sure they have the appropriate insurance coverage.

[robinw]

 

This is the tried and true "tuck and fold," and how we've taught every dog my family has ever had how to sit.

 

If George can learn it, I am pretty sure ANY dog can.

 

nope. Neither Loca nor Treasure learned it.

[Guest debi_s]

All but one of mine learned to sit. Penny, well, she has other talents that I'm assuming will show up one day. However, there are many pet certifying agencies out there, and many don't require the sit. Therapy Dogs International, and Therapy Dogs Incorporated are two I can think of right now. For that matter, some facilities don't have a certification as a requirement. One of the places I visit just requires an interview with you and the dog, to determine that you are both appropriate candidates. One caution, tho--if certified, you carry your own insurance. If you are visiting as a pet therapy team without certification at a facility that doesn't require certification, make sure they have the appropriate insurance coverage.

 

TAA-DAAAAA!!!!!! I just looked over my TDI paperwork and found the paragraph that says...." Greyhounds are not required to sit for TDI Testing"

 

Ya--hooooooooo!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'

[jetcitywoman]

@greyaholic--Thanks!!! and so true.....I could actually get Flame to 'occasionally' do something of a 'sit'--and I see her sit in the yard often...but the slick floors at the training class (she was doing good--just unsure)...then the rather large lady SAT on her to MAKE her sit--it was not pretty... actually, if I had a video camera I would likely be $10,000 richer--hahahahaha

 

Thanks for all the advice--

 

Wow, you're very nice. If it was me and someone sat on my dog, that would be the last dog they sat on. You just don't do that to other people's animals. And I know you don't mean putting all her weight on her, but still.

[Remolacha]

@greyaholic--Thanks!!! and so true.....I could actually get Flame to 'occasionally' do something of a 'sit'--and I see her sit in the yard often...but the slick floors at the training class (she was doing good--just unsure)...then the rather large lady SAT on her to MAKE her sit--it was not pretty... actually, if I had a video camera I would likely be $10,000 richer--hahahahaha

 

Thanks for all the advice--

 

Glad to see you found the exemption! I think most greys can learn to kinda sit, but for most it isn't comfortable, although I've known a few to do it naturally (and quite prettily ) As for the "expert" teaching that class, I'd get my dog out of there fast! What an idiot!

[christinepi]

It was suggested on Greytalk to teach a grey to sit on an incline initially, so the butt doesn't have that far to go. I tried that, and all Tracker does is walk backwards up the relatively steep hill, wondering why the heck I'm not releasing the darned treat...

 

(I know I must be doing something wrong, but it just looks so funny)

Edited February 18, 2012 by christinepi

[Guest Snazzy_Chloe]

I would certainly do it on a carpeted or grass surface. They are a lot more unsure about anything when their feet are slipping on tile or slippery surfaces. They have to be confidant that they are not going to fall or have trouble getting up. My second grey learned sit but it quicly degenerated into a down as she could but did not want to be in a sitting position for very long. This was OK with the instructor.

[Fruitycake]

Does your grey ever sit on the way to a lie down? Have you tried clicker training and capturing motions? We used to think our Monty was dim (that's putting it gently), but it turns out he just hadn't learned how to offer behaviors and HATED to be moved into any position. Seriously, nudging this boy was enough to turn him into a block of clay with a turned-off mind.

 

But over the past couple of weeks even (since I started with a clicker), he is offering behaviors and even though I only clicked him a few times when he was sitting while getting into a lie down on his bed, he now always stops in a sit and looks at me. I was working on shaping him into a "lie down on his bed while we eat" behavior, but the twice clicked in a sit now makes him pause there and give me the "see what I'm doing?" look. And I haven't really tried the sit elsewhere, but I betcha I could get it since I can get a lie down elsewhere.

[Guest debi_s]

Does your grey ever sit on the way to a lie down? Have you tried clicker training and capturing motions? We used to think our Monty was dim (that's putting it gently), but it turns out he just hadn't learned how to offer behaviors and HATED to be moved into any position. Seriously, nudging this boy was enough to turn him into a block of clay with a turned-off mind.

 

But over the past couple of weeks even (since I started with a clicker), he is offering behaviors and even though I only clicked him a few times when he was sitting while getting into a lie down on his bed, he now always stops in a sit and looks at me. I was working on shaping him into a "lie down on his bed while we eat" behavior, but the twice clicked in a sit now makes him pause there and give me the "see what I'm doing?" look. And I haven't really tried the sit elsewhere, but I betcha I could get it since I can get a lie down elsewhere.

 

Explain the clicker 'capturing' the behavior......I understand when you "catch" them in the behavior you 'click'---then what----

 

P.S. Flame is the same way---touch her and she freezes!

[Fruitycake]

The easiest way to use a clicker for us was to click as Monty ate some treats. Every time he did something I wanted (I used a cup upside down on the livingroom floor and put treats on the cup and when he went for them I clicked as his mouth was opening for a treat). This is "loading" the clicker (making an association between the click and the "I get something good" for him). I did this for one full meal for him, starting with a couple of kibble on the cup and clicking for being about to eat them. Did this probably 10 times. Then reduced the kibbles to one kibble, and clicked as he was about to eat it and immediately followed up with a handful of treats given at the place where I wanted his nose (at the cup). I was actually shaping him to put his nose on the bottom of the cup, to start with. Then I moved the cup and put treats on it, and click-treated again (so he knew it was the action, not the location) and repeated a few times. Then I tried moving the cup and shaped his behavior by clicking his looking at the cup (and fed ON the cup), then clicking only when his nose got closer, then for only touching it (always delivering treats on the cup). By the end of his one meal (1 cup of kibble), he was checking to see if I wanted it tipped over (no click, I'd just put it back where it had been and give him a try again, conversational "nope") a few times and by the end he would mash his big-ol' nose on the cup for his click-kibble treat.

 

Then the next dayI did that a few times, then removed the cup and he looked confused. I went to the couch near his bed and looked studiously at his bed and when he went there he got a click-treat (getting up to reward him on his bed, since that's where I wanted him to be). Then I waited and he did a yoga "Down dog" and got click treated (a few times). Then he went all the way into a lie down and I clicked, "good boy!"ed him and gave him a jackpot of a lot of kibbles. Then I changed beds on him by moving elsewhere. And we started again. This time he actually went the other direction (sit, then lie) and I caught him twice in the sit with the click, and now he looks at me every time I'm eating and he's on his way to a down. He usually does his lie downs from a sideways sit - but only on his bed (otherwise it is a sphinx lie down from a down dog on the carpet or rugs, sometimes to flop on his side for a sprawl-out lie down). But I think his sitting might be uncomfortable and didn't want to force it, so I haven't tried to reinforce it other than on the bed.

 

It is so cute to watch him trying to figure out what I want!

 

some good training information is at: Karen Pryor Clickertraining website and Never Say Never Greyhounds clicker training info (this was where I found the idea of using a cup). Her blog is an excellent place to see how much you can do with the "more difficult to train" (especially by force) greyhounds. They have to learn to learn, and she does a great job of showing how to teach 'em!

[Fostr_Mom]

When I have had fosters who had a hard time learning to sit, I would try to catch them in a sphinx position. Then I could bring them "up" into a sit, rather than tucking & folding.

[BatterseaBrindl]

The scoop & sit method has worked for all three of ours.

 

Our latest ...Nigel... has been the most difficult.

 

He finds it much easier if he is on one of the dog beds or a piece of carpet.

On a tiled/hardwood floor, his hind legs slip and slide all over the place and he just does not like it.

 

If he really, really, really wants a treat he will back himself up in a squatting, half-sit position until his bum is on a bed and then plunk it all the way down.

I've seen him scoot over 10 feet backwards just to find a soft, non-slippery spot to plunk his skinny butt down.

 

Nixon is a TD. St John Ambulance do not require any dogs to sit.

[muddgirl]

@greyaholic--Thanks!!! and so true.....I could actually get Flame to 'occasionally' do something of a 'sit'--and I see her sit in the yard often...but the slick floors at the training class (she was doing good--just unsure)...then the rather large lady SAT on her to MAKE her sit--it was not pretty... actually, if I had a video camera I would likely be $10,000 richer--hahahahaha

 

Thanks for all the advice--

 

Bring a fluffy towel to training class! Batman wouldn't sit or down on hard floors, either, but we started him on a towel and worked up to harder surfaces.

 

Edited to add: I have in general seen very negative results with trying to force a dog into the correct position. If your trainer does that, I would really recommend trying a different trainer.

Edited February 18, 2012 by muddgirl

[45MPHK9]

..then the rather large lady SAT on her to MAKE her sit--it was not pretty...

 

If any so-called dog trainer sat on my Murray, I can assure you that's the last thing they'd ever do. Once said trainer recovered from her bite wounds, she'd be looking for another line of work.

[Laur]

Saint John Ambulance Therapy Dog program does not require a greyhound to sit.

They recognize it isn't as natural and looks darn uncomfortable for some.

One of my puppers was a SJA therapy pooch for 5 years.

The residents loved his vast wardrobe, that he was the right height for petting whether you were standing,in a wheelchair, or bed bound, and that he was long enough from nose to tail for 3 residents sitting side by side to have a part to pet.

Sitting ? Heck no, he had a job to do and people to see.. and love and was loved every second.