Chapter 7. Sit and Rise

You are not going to teach your dog to Sit or Rise, or for that matter, any other behavior in this course—the dog already knows how to do them. Rather, training puts these behaviors under signal and voice-command control—it's what you do in dog-obedience training.

In this chapter, allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down anytime that he wants. If the dog is standing, do a Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.

The Sit Trial

Getting the Sit response under voice control is accomplished in two training parts.

Part 1: Get a dependable and stable Sit prompt. In this part, you will choose the best way to help the dog into the Sit response. To be a good helping action, it must get the response every time. This part also helps the dog to adapt to your handling during the helping action. The "touch/handling" that you do in this part is not yet called a prompt. It becomes a prompt in the second part when it is associated with learning the Sit command.

Part 2: Pairing the SIT command with a prompt. In this part, the dog learns the meaning of the voiced command, SIT. Learning is accomplished by pairing the command SIT with the prompt of your choice (see the next section, "Prompt candidates for Sit training." The pairing is done in this order: first, give the command; then do the prompt. Enlist the aid of another Team Player to perform one or more of these trial actions—it makes it easier for the actions to be performed correctly.

"Prompt" candidates for Sit training

Choose an action that is listed in this section. Then run a number of trials (Part 1, below) to get the dog familiarized with the routine. Continue working with your selected action until you are able to get the response every time and with little effort. Then use it as a prompting action in Part 2.

• Pressing down lightly on the dog's haunches
• The knee-tuck
• Light upward tug of the lead
• Upward raising of the dog's head
• Bending your upper body over the dog

Pressing down lightly on the dog's hindquarters. This prompt is favored by dog trainers because most dogs willingly sit when light to moderate pressure is applied there.

The knee-tuck. Some dogs resist the modest downward pressure on their haunches. An alternate plan is to unlock the dog's back knees by sliding your hand from on top of his hindquarters to the back of the knees. A light forward pressure then tucks the knees. With a "break" in the knees, the dog usually goes into the sit. If necessary, additional pressure can then be applied atop the haunches, with the same hand, to complete the response.

A light upward leash-tug. Some dogs will reflexively sit when you give the leash an upward tug. This event is not all that reliable as a "prompt" choice.

Nevertheless, the leash-tug can be learned later as a new signal, if you wish, to control the Sit response. It's done this way: When the voice-command SIT comes to control the Sit response by itself (the control is achieved in Part 2 of the present work), the command can then be used as a prompt for learning this signal, or any other signal, to control the same Sit response. In such a training trial, first deliver a momentary upward tug on the lead, then follow closely with the voice-command, SIT.

Raising of the dog's head upward. This action is quite effective, but its use as a prompt has not been widespread. When doing this action, you will have no food in your hands (the food can be kept in a dish on a nearby table). The action: While the dog is facing you with anticipation, gently cradle his muzzle in both hands. Then slowly raise the muzzle. When done this way, a non-stressed dog will usually sit. He probably does that to reduce the mild strain on his neck.

Bending your upper body over the dog. This action also gets the dog to raise his head, except that in this procedure, the dog is not touched. To do it, hold your closed hands (the Sign of the Feeder) at upper-chest, rather than at midriff. As you face the dog straight on, slowly bend the upper part of your body over the dog. This usually gets the dog to raise his head, and then to sit.

The Rise Trial

Rise-command control is also in two parts:

Part 1: Work to get a dependable and stable Rise prompt. In this part, you will find the best way to help (prompt) the dog to Rise. To be a good Rise prompt, it must get the response every time. The "handling action" of this first part becomes a prompt when it is used with the RISE command in the second part.

Part 2: The dog learns the meaning of the voiced command, RISE. Learning is accomplished by pairing (associating) the command, RISE, with the prompt of your choice. The pairing is done in this order: first the command, then the prompt. Enlist the aid of another Team Player to do one or more actions in the trial—it makes it easier for the actions to be performed correctly.

"Prompt" candidates for Rise training

The dog is less inclined to go from the Sit attitude to a Stand, than he is to go from the Stand to the Sit. The Rise-prompt options are few. You will just have to pull the dog off the Sit. Two ways are suggested here.

Lifting the dog's underside. When you are ready to do the helping action, bend over the sitting or downed dog. Place your hands under the dog's belly. Gently pull upward until the dog is standing, then say GOOD, and follow by releasing the dog. If you are doing Team Training, the Team Player who does this prompt should be the owner of the dog—it's less stressful on the dog.

Dog is pulled off the sit. Attach the leash to the dog's collar. With the dog sitting in front of you, take up most of the slack (without exerting any force on the leash), and hold your end of the leash at waist or chest level with both hands. When you are ready to do the helping action, take one or two steps backward, putting a gentle to moderate pull on the lead. The dog can release the strain on his neck by rising from the sit. At the moment the dog is up, say GOOD. Follow with a tasty tidbit. Do not start your food delivery before you say GOOD.

Part 1. Getting a dependable prompt

You will not "tell" the dog to sit or rise in this first training part. The present trials resolve which Sit and Rise actions will work best as prompts. This work will enable the dog to adapt, with composure, to your handling. Continue to run these trials until the chosen handling action gets the desired response easily every time. Then use it as a prompt in Part 2.

The action, "Upward Raising of the Dog's Head," is arbitrarily used here to describe the Part 1 procedure in the Sit trial. You can choose another. The "Lift the belly" is used here when you are doing the Rise trial. Design and substitute any other helping action that works best for you. Part 1 trials do not begin with a wait period.

1. Say READY when the dog is not expecting it.
2. Go to the kitchen to pick up your training foods. Then proceed to the place where you will do the work. Place 10 to 15 tidbits in a plate on a nearby table. Do not have any food in your hands during these trials.

A. If the dog is standing:

3. Face the attentive dog.
4. Without waiting, proceed to assist the dog into the Sit by raising the dog's head upward (or by any other assisting action). Don't hurry or force the Sit.

Keep in mind that you do not tell the dog to sit in this training part. You're only trying to make the helping action work well before using it as a prompt in Part 2.

5. At the moment the dog's butt touches the floor, say GOOD, then release the dog's muzzle, and reward the dog.

If you want the following trial to also be a Sit action, hold the tidbit of the previous trial just out of reach of the dog so that he has to rise to retrieve it. Then go to action A.3. above.

If you want the dog to be sitting at the start of the next trial, deliver the tidbit to the sitting dog. Then go to B.3. next.

B. If the dog is sitting at the start of the trial:

3. Face the attentive, sitting dog.
4. Without waiting, proceed to assist the dog into the Stand by bending over the dog, putting your hands under his abdomen, and lifting up (or by any other lift action). Don't hurry or force the Rise.
5. When the dog had been standing for about one-half second, say GOOD, withdraw the lifting action, and move to deliver the tidbit. The dog is then ready for the next trial (see directions A or B, above).

Do 10-12 trials per session. Run as many sessions as needed for the dog to become compliant to the helping sit and rise actions.

Team training—See chapter 1

Involve family members or friends in Team Training. It's fun and results in more effective timing and sequencing of trial actions. Establish beforehand which Team Player will do which action in the part-2 trials. In Team Training, one Team player assumes the Feeder Stance with hands closed at mid-waist or chest-high level (this Team Player may have food tidbits in her hand, if she does not also help the dog do the response-prompt).

You may be performing all training actions yourself, but get practice with Team Training first, if you have anyone to help you. When doing this training by yourself, don't assume the feeder stance; your hands will be busy doing other things.

When the dog has adjusted well enough to response assisting, go to the next part.

Part 2. Teaching Voiced SIT and RISE

In this part, the Sit trial and Rise trial each now have these actions: a voice command for the dog to do something and a helping prompt that the dog experienced in Part 1.

The Part 2 trial sequence: After a quiet wait of one to five seconds, give a command, then follow with a prompt—an action that puts your dog into the appropriate response. As in the earlier bare-bone work, you must observe proper care in the way you perform the two new actions. Don't make any sudden moves to start the prompt action before you give the command. Also, continue your prompting action until the GOOD is sounded. Say the GOOD sound and do tidbit rewarding as you had been doing in the earlier bare-bones work.

Allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down at the start of any trial. If the dog is standing, do a Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.

If you are doing Team Training, you can have as many Team players as there are actions in the trial. However, for practical reasons, no more than two players usually do the Team training. In our Parks and Recreation Dog Training Course in Bel Air, Maryland, we sometimes involve 4 persons in the Sit and Rise trials, simply to demonstrate Team Training at its fun best.

All Team players are instructed not to start their action until the preceding action is completed by another Team player. If a player makes an error during the trial, just laugh it off and continue—the dog is forgiving. After a number of training trials, the players can switch roles.

The command, SIT

In this part, pair the voice-command SIT with the Sit prompt. The trial begins with a quiet wait period of one to five seconds during which the dog is in the stand attitude. Following the "wait" period, say SIT. Pause less than one-half second, and then begin the prompt (helping the dog into the Sit). Don't overlap the voiced command and the prompt—they're done in sequence.

Make sure that you have the dog's attention at the start of every trial. If your dog isn't attending, go back to doing the basic bare bones trials of week one until you get the basic attentive control. When the dog's backside touches the ground, say the reinforcing sound, GOOD, and give him a tasty tidbit.

The command, RISE

In this part, pair the voice-command RISE with the Rise prompt. The trial begins with a quiet wait period of one to five seconds. The pairing begins when the dog is in the sit attitude. Deliver the command RISE first, pause shortly (less than one-half second), and then begin the prompt. Don't overlap the two events—they're done in sequence.

The dog is then ready for the next trial, which teaches the Rise command if the dog is sitting during the wait period; teaches the Sit command when the dog is standing during this period.

Continue to use prompts in your Sit and Stand work until your dog begins to respond too quickly for you to deliver them.

Sit-stay and Stand-stay Training

In the above part of this chapter, the dog earned the GOOD sound at the moment he sat or stood—no Sit-stay or Stand-stay was attempted. In the present section, you will link Stay with the Sit attitude and Stay with the Stand attitude.

Chaining. Linking one response to another is called chaining. Some chains can have many links. Each response link in the chain has it's own controlling action. For example, the controlling action for the Sit response is the command, SIT; the controlling action for the Stay response, the next response in the chain, is the command, STAY; the GOOD (or OUT) sound is the controlling action for the last response in the chain, i.e., breaking from the Stay response to pick up the tidbit or grand reward. The GOOD and OUT actions always come on at the end of the last response link. Each successive controlling action in the chain should be timed precisely at the moment the previous response in the chain is made.

Prompting chained responses. Prompt any or all of the dog's responses that are part of a chaining trial. For example, in Sit-stay training in the present section, continue to help the dog do the Sit response, if it's still necessary. You may also prompt (help) the Stay response with hand-in-face signal, plus gentle restraint, if necessary.

When the dog becomes proficient in the procedure, you can eliminate the STAY command: the SIT command will come to mean, "Sit, then Stay sitting." Similarly, the RISE command will come to mean, "Rise, then Stay standing."

Step 1. Sit-stay and Stand-stay Actions

1. Say READY.
2. Pick up your training foods and go to the place where you will do your training.
3. Allow the dog to Sit, Stand or Lie down during these trials. (We don't think that your dog will be lying down. However, your dog will be doing it later when he receives Down training).
4. Face the attentive dog. Hands are at your side.
5. Wait quietly for two to five seconds.

If the dog is sitting:

6. Say RISE. Then prompt (help) the dog to stand up.
7. At the moment the dog is up on his four legs, signal a Stay (see the refined Stay signal in the Stay in Place Chapter). Then go to Action 8.

If the dog is standing:

6. Say SIT. Then prompt the dog to sit.
7. At the moment the dog sits say STAY. Then go to the next action.
8. Follow the STAY command closely with the Stay-signal prompt (see 'The refined Stay signal,' above).
9. After giving the stay signal, walk away and leave your dog in Stay. Then do a distracting movement for two or more seconds—See Step 2, below, for more on "distractions."

If the dog makes an unauthorised break from the Stay, say NO in a calm voice, and then go to Action six (6).

10. If the dog stays, say GOOD while you are still performing a distraction.
11. Allow the dog to break from the Stay.
12. Deliver the tidbit.
13. Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another paired Sit-stay or Rise-stay trial.
14. On the end of the last trial of the session, replace the GOOD sound with OUT.
15. Follow with a grand reward.

Step 2. Distractions in Sit and Stand

After you give the command, STAY, followed closely by the Stay hand-signal, make brief and smooth distracting movements, such as slowly backing away from the dog. If the dog moves before you release him with the GOOD sound, start the trial over again. That is, go to the dog and put him gently in the response that he broke from. Then deliver another Stay command and Stay signal and go on from there. Add distractions in small increments from one trial to another—make it easy for the dog to be correct.

You will be finished with this step when the dog stays in place after you make the following actions: Command and Signal the dog to Stay; turn away from the dog; walk about 5 paces; turn to face the dog; stand in place for several seconds; return to the dog; go around his left side to his right side (the heel position); stand there for a moment; say GOOD, and give the dog a food tidbit. The dog is allowed to break from the response when he hears the sound, GOOD or OUT.

Conduct several training sessions per day, for as many days that it takes to get a reliable Stay under the above distracting conditions. Do about 5 trials in each session. On the last trial of a session, reinforce with the sound, OUT, and deliver a grand reward.

Step 3. Teaching the Sit "arm/hand" signal.

For this step, you will want the dog to be standing. If the dog is sitting when you begin, give the dog a Rise and Stand-stay trial.

When the dog is standing, say STAY. Then turn away and leave your standing dog; Take two steps; Turn to face your dog; Wait several seconds, then deliver the Sit "arm and hand" signal (see next), followed closely by the command, SIT.

The Sit "arm and hand" signal: Your arms rest at your side during the wait. The signal begins by raising your right arm (no bends) toward the dog, to about 45 degrees from the resting position. The palm of your hand faces the dog. The arm is then brought back to your side—all in a continuous fluid motion. When doing the pairing, the voiced SIT is said when your arm is at its furthest forward position.

In this procedure, you're using the command, SIT as a prompt. To be useful as a prompt, the voiced, SIT, must get the Sit response every time. Simply by pairing the new signal with the Sit command over a series of trials, the dog will then begin to Sit to the "arm and hand" signal when given alone. Be sure to observe the sequence: first the new Sit signal, then the Sit command.

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