Re: straight sit If the leg is sticking out gently tap the foot and he will tuck that leg under properly. I used to do this with my horses when I did ground work. But it also works with dogs.
Re: straight sit I think like anything if he 'rocks' back and forth consistently straight you can let his bum touch the ground. I'm guessing the untidy sit is either a bit of a flop into the sit or it's a collapse after the sit. Either way you have to build him up to do a nice alert sit for a decent length of time. So the straighter the sit motion and the less time his bum's on the ground the less likely he is to collapse..... I just thought about the forward motion as analogous to the collection and control in horse riding but it makes sense to me to allow him to 'release' his muscles before asking for tight control again but that's as a complete layman obviously Trying to teach the hooligan control ;D if anyone can, you can!
Re: straight sit Thank you! Very helpful. I'm not sure about tapping his foot, but I'll try - that would be wonderful if it works. The picture you took, Barbara, of Charlie with Riley was the best example of his usual sloppy sit. He just sat down like this: riley and charlie by JulieTandCharlie, on Flickr Now, he adjusts before he sits to avoid using his right knee, and keeps it as straight as he can.
