Struggling with the sit stay with Bramble. Sometimes she offers a lovely sit stay, however, I don't think she has got it. Today, despite all efforts, poor thing just couldn't manage even a second. We quickly moved onto to something else as she was getting clearly disheartened and frustrated. I could tell she was unhappy as she started to offer other behaviours she thought I wanted. I am using the "trickle treat"method,stand close, reward the sit, and give treats, then the release cue. Wondered if it was worth trying a different method? It is interesting that she does a fairly consistent settle, but I am puzzled with the fact she is struggling with this. She does seem a bit distracted atm, so I don't whether it is better just to leave this for a while and concentrate on other things.
Can you try to just reward the release? Even if that's just after one second. Then two. This worked with Charlie. That, and a placeboard. I moved on to just rewarding the release as soon as I'd rewarded heavily a few times for staying on the placeboard. Then moved to cue discrimination. I used a treat and train for the first few 'owner out of sight' exercises, but it's better for a down rather than a sit, because it can make them get up from a sit.
Thank you @JulieT I think that could work She understands the release cue very well. I did try the place board on grass, however I think I she got confused by me cueing to the placeboard, then asking for a sit, when she was feeling bothered by the whole exercise. We had cuddles for for a bit then playtime
Yes, she's just a baby, if it's not working, then move on.... What does she do on a placeboard if not a sit? I got a default sit on a placeboard - more than just a sit, a straight, firm, sit. Only once I had that perfect did I reward duration. I can't say I trained much right with Charlie (well, I did ok with his recall, thankfully), but placeboards I got right. I concentrated on it all being so 'solid' and only then did I move on. It honestly was the best training investment time I ever made. It'll be the first thing I train with Betsy... placeboard by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Lovely photo of Charlie! Hmmmm....normally with a place board I will just say "place" and she would skip over and sit very neatly. I would wait a second or two...then release. Today I cued "place" and she hovered around the placeboard, so I added a "sit" cue. In hindsight probably not a good idea. I think I will take a step back and work on gentle tuggy games, handtouch and "find it" games which she loves. Maybe she is tired and hormonal she has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks. Placeboards are great, with Benson they have been fantastic at getting him to work away from me. I am able to throw a dummy whilst he is on a placeboard and he flies after the dummy when cued. This is Casper and Bramble. Casper is a pro on the placeboard
I think your instinct to give it a break is probably right. Then start again so she has lots of success. She's still very young and sensitive to success and perceived failure. She'll be fine!
I don't use place boards, but you could try this for a change and see if this works for you. When I take Annie out for a walk, I make her sit and stay before I open the gate. I open the gate slowly and say stay, when the gate is fully opened I wait for so many seconds, ( you can build this up). If Annie moves, I shut the gate and take her back to the place where I asked her to sit and stay. I can open the gate for over 2 mins now before I say OK. She then go through the gate and sit and stay on the over side until I close the gate and put her lead on. This gate leads to the garden so we have to do the same thing again before we are out on the lane. I am sure Bramble would soon get it. I can now use sit stay anywhere and Annie will do it. I don't know if his help you or not.
I trained a sit/stay like Cath and get great distance. Also when Hattie was a puppy and we went to classes we were asked to stand next to our dogs get them in a 'sit' and take a step to the side wait for a few seconds and return to our dog and treat, gradually moving more and more steps away, then we did it with out dog in a 'sit' and we backed away looking at our dog, again gradually increasing the distance, return and treat. Worked for me, I could leave Hattie sitting at a gate and walk a good 75 meters and there she stays until I call her. It might just be an easier way to teach Bramble until she gets the idea. x
That's how we were taught it in class too Helen. It worked well and Coco caught on quickly. He will now sit nicely while I walk away (sometimes around the corner out of sight) to place dummies. If there is no one else at class, we walk to heel, sit the dog and carry on walking, the dog stays sitting until called to heel when he catches up.
I used this method too and I worked for us. Took quite a while but I can now walk about 40-50ft away.
I did the same with Fred and walked away, then around him too. I can get him to sit stay while I go into the house and come back. So hopefully Annie will be able to do it to in time.
At the Hospice on Friday I needed to put Hattie's water bowl in the kitchen sink, obviously she can't go in so I left her in a 'sit' in the day centre whilst I went to the kitchen, lots of people milling around and she was still sat there when I returned x I insist on a sit/stay at stiles, gates, doors, pavements, when I've stopped to chat to someone etc. She sits until I release her, I believe this to be good doggie manners x
Thank you everyone. Bramble has a very good settle. She will plonk herself into this as soon as I stop. A sit stay seems to be troubling her. So today I used a cue she does very well which is "side". With this she goes around me so she is slightly behind my hip to my side. This is something she does very well, and usually watches me and waits naturally. So we simply built on this. Once she was in a sit, I rewarded her. Then leaned over to the side and moved my right leg out slightly, C&T. then just increased the time I was leaning over to just 2 seconds then gave her a release cue coupled with throwing a treat. I didn't try anything else but gave her LOADS of praise!
I call that finish. I just move my right hand to my left hip or right hand to my right hip and say finish. On a return from a retrieve when they are in front of me. I take the dummy, I touch my left hip and say finish and Fred/Annie goes and sit next to my left leg. If we are playing games, I say finish and touch my right hip and my dog goes around the back of me and comes and sits at my left leg.
I just say "finish" too, Hattie immediately positions herself tightly against my left leg even if she is on the other side of the room as this signifies TREAT! x
Place boards are the best IMO. Better yet arrange it so it's high so they must jump up to get on it. Most effective with the stay. BTW I never use the stay command. It's always implied with either the sit or down command.
same here - "sit" (or "down") until I issue another cue. Though in honesty, I usually add a "wait" as polite conversation with my dog! I can't help myself
