The Sit Command is the most basic command you can teach your dog and the building block to teaching your dog how to behave well.
The Sit position is so widely used that it is almost always in a dog’s repertoire of commands; even dogs with very limited obedience work will usually
have learned this command. Some owners teach their dogs to sit before meals, before going out of the house or coming in and at every street corner before
crossing the street. Training a dog to sit teaches the dog to work with his owner in a positive and constructive manner.
To start you need a leash and collar. You will use a food reward and physical praise interchangeably during the teaching process. Give your dog a command to Sit, then gently but firmly press her rear end down into a sit position. Try not too push too hard or too fast because that may cause your dog to resist more. You want to be as gentle as you can while still using enough pressure to get the job done. Now that you have your dog in position you can reward her with praise or a small treat. Whichever type of reward you use you don’t want to over excite your dog to the point that she wants to get up and wiggle around. If she does get up due to too much excitement, you will simply re-issue the command and repeat the process.
When using a treat as a reward, use it as just that, a reward and not a lure. If you use treats as a lure you’ll find that many dogs will suffer from poor performance because they are looking for the treat before the command. You can see this when an owner commands Sit and the dog only complies when the owner pretends to hold a treat over the dogs head.
When training a dog to sit is done a few times each day your dog will soon learn to sit without you needing to push her rear end down. After a few days your dog will have a more solid understanding of the command and will comply more readily. When your dog has mastered this command in the house and in the yard you can then start practicing in more distracting areas like in your neighborhood and at the local park. With the right amount of practice your dog will soon be sitting on command regardless of location or distraction.