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I have taught my Pointer to sit, drop, stay, stand, beg, spin, bed (she goes and lays on her bed), fetch, hunt, recall, in (walks into her crate), wait (she waits until I say she can come out of the crate in my room or the crate in the car) and leave (leaves a toy or food or bird when I say 'leave'..

I have taught my malt cross to sit, drop, stay, up, wait, and army...

I just can't get this other Pointer I am looking after to sit. :):hug: I have used the other two dogs to show her what to do, I have held the food above her head and moved it backwards (she think she needs to jump around or walk backwards with it), I have pushed her rear-end to the ground and praised her.

Any tips? Every single time she looks at me dumbly :hug: I love her to bits, she so sweet and lovely, and plays lovely with my other dogs, but I just finger for the vets and around really young kids, it would be better if she knew sit.

She's a 3 year old Pointer if that helps. I've taught her wait, it only took her about 24 hours to learn that, and she's a dream at it along with the other Pointer, but this whole sit thing is a problem.

Thanks!!

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Can she sit by herself? There may be a structural/health issue that explains why she is not sitting.

I would observe her for a few days and if you never see her sitting you might want to get her checked out by a vet. If you do see her sitting, catch her doing it and mark and reward it.

Is she an ex-show dog?

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Yeah, she's a Champ. :thumbsup: All she knows is to stack- which is no help.

She does sit on her own, but when I go to reward her (move near here) she thinks its play time and starts bouncy around me in circles, and comes over for cuddles. :D

When I'm not near or, or watching the dogs from the backdoor, she happily runs around, sits there, sunbakes, etc.

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She might have learned through previous training that sitting is forbidden when working with a human. Given time she'll get it.

Can she catch a treat? Some of mine can which makes it easier to reward them in position providing your aim is good. Another option is to work with a clicker. I would also work with her by yourself to start, some dogs are less inclined to sit or drop in the presence of other dogs.

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You could try another exercise like "drop". If she can learn to lie down, you may have more success luring her up to a sit.

Sometimes you really have to work at the luring.. don't give up easily. Most dogs will try to offer behaviour if they know you have a treat.

It may help to have her standing in front of a wall and luring her head back.. she can't back up for the treat then.

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Thanks guys for your help.

Will give the wall idea a try tomorrow! And the 'drop' :crossfingers: Fingers crossed she will do it.

SkySoaringMagpie, I do all my home training one on one, and when I feel they are ready, we give it a go infront of my other dogs, and then we go to classes.

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My girl wouldn't sit using the lure method either. I used (what I think is called) free shaping. Whenever I saw her bottom about to hit the ground I'd say "sit" and then treat her (lots of jackpots thrown in). She got it after a few goes and now sits like a pro.

You could also use the "guide show place" method.

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Thanks for the tips guys, the wall thing seems to work a bit, and when I catch her sitting I am throwing a treat to her after saying sit, so fingers crossed she soon 'gets it'. ;)

Don't use the word until she understands the behaviour.. lure and reward until she consistently offers the behaviour THEN add the verbal cue... and fade the lure.

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When we first taught our male greyhound to sit my OH waited until he sat (on the way to lying on his bed) - said "sit" gave a treat. Then tried the sit command before he sat on his way down. So far so good.

When we gave the sit command in another room he would just walk away - not to worry we thought, he will get it eventually. Well after a few days, OH followed him when he walked away. You guessed it - he took it literally and though "sit" meant sit on that dog bed. :D

So then to teach him to sit elsewhere, he thought it was fun to play bow when I said sit - so I had to teach him "bottom" to sit. But I also managed to train him to bow too.

So greyhounds are trainable - just maybe a bit different!

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Oh, that is gorgeous! :laugh: Greyhounds are so calm and collected, I used to love working with them! :(

Well, things have gone again with my girl, nothing is going through her head now. :( She almost took my fingers off when jumping up for a treat.

The wall thing isn't working...

Maybe I will give her a week or so and then try again.

Thanks for your help guys.

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