Ok very new to puppy's. What way do I go about teaching my pup to sit please. I have been putting her in front of me, gently pushing her bottom down and saying sit Rosie, but all she is doing is mouthing and biting me bless.

Hi there Firstlt i recomend the book The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey to all new puppy owners, its great easy to follow advice

Secondly you might find you have more success if you motivate the dog to sit rather than trying to enforce a sit, as a baby she just wont get what you want from her yet.

Motivation = Bribery and corruption

Take a small piece of chicken or her food if its dry and kneel infront of her. Let her sniff the treat but don't let her eat it, hold the treat just on her nose and then slowly lift it back over her head, she will automatically follow it with her nose and as she does so (if you do it in a straight line) she will sit, as she sits say SIT and release the treat to her.

It really wont take long for her to suss what you want her to do If she gets really over excited and "bitey" and paws at it then try again after a while. If she is overly interested in the food then try it after a meal when she isnt overly hungry but use something tasty at first

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Thats brilliant thankyou very much

I agree with the motivation side. My trainer said that our puppies had to do a down with out a treat and if they didn't to move their front legs and make them. My puppy refused to do a down even for a treat after I tried to make him. I used treats again and he would then go down when asked to without one.

I know it was in good jest, but obviously motivation is very different to bribery or corruption!

Training a dog to SIT using food lures the dog into position, teaching them the behaviour. Once you have taught the hand motion and then the formal hand signal, you don't need food in your hand anymore. Food is a reinforcement for desired behaviour; bribery would mean having to offer the food to get the command every single time, which is clearly not the point of training.

Bribery and corruption is exactly how we should not use food in training!

I hope they aren't your trainer any more!

This sort of training approach caused my Puppy who already had a "Sit!" to refuse, which meant I had to rebuild it from scratch with Clicker, even used another word instead of "Sit!" for a bit!

So rather than rush the puppy, be patient. This style of "enforcement" can and does poison cues, with perhaps more sensitive puppies.

However for those interested in more details, we discussed before not to lure too long (think it was thread called "Dunbar Article : The Force in Dog Training" started by me). Also once you get 80% success rate then you can get to 100% quicker using variable or differential rewarding. Don't rely on treats alone too long, or you may have a dog who only does things when treats are about and is "disobedient" in face of distractions.

This is very true. I've over treated Ted in the past and only have myself to blame. Thankfully I am reworking with him and gradually reducing the times I give him a treat for doing something he already knows. It may sound silly but it is working, you need some patience though.

The Perfect Puppy is definitely an essential read!

Sit is only the beginning, enjoy this special puppy time.

I ignored a lot of what was said and went for the socialisation side!

No need to push your puppy - confrontation and force not required to teach dogs - they are amazing learners

Here is a month long of daily training socialisation plans for puppies: SYP Month | Pet Central's Pawsitive Dawgs Blog!

Gwen Bailey's as recommended book is excellent and there is a link (in the link above) to get Dr Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy for free download too - sits are covered in all these resources

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar