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Pierre’s Dog Emporium – Teaching Your Dog To Sit & Name Recognition/Watch Me

In this week’s installment of the emporium blog, we will give you some tips on how to teach your dog to recognize their name and how to sit.

I learned these tips while attending a dog training class at PETsMART. I’m not an expert so consult with a training expert about how best to train your little puppy.

THE CLICKER/MARKER
You can purchase a clicker at your local pet store. The clicker will be used in many of the training exercises that will follow in the weeks ahead.

The clicker helps your dog to recognize desired commands.

NAME RECOGNITION
Name recognition is an important element in dog training. Many of the commands that you give your dog will state their name prior to the command.

Name recognition helps you get your dog’s attention.

Place the clicker in your hand. Call your dog's name. When your dog looks at you, click the clicker and repeat his/her name.
Continue to repeat this exercise until your dog recognizes their name at your command.

Watch me is a variation of name recognition. Watch me is used to help your dog pay attention to you.

Call your dog’s name and then say “watch me”. When your dog looks at you, even a glance counts, mark the behavior with the clicker and then reward your dog with a treat.

You will want to gradually increase the amount of time your dog pays attention/looks at you. To do this, gradually increase the time before rewarding your dog with a treat.

I also believe in training your dog to pay attention with a physical cue.
To do this take the treat and raise it to your eyes. When your dog has made eye contact, mark the behavior, repeat the verbal command and give your dog a treat.

Like the verbal cue, you can increase the time that your dog pays attention to you.

TEACHING YOUR DOG TO SIT
Take a treat in your hand and place it between your index finger and thumb. Make sure to keep your palm open, facing the upward.
Start lifting the treat above your dog’s head. As you do this, your dog should naturally sit. When they do sit, mark the behavior and reward your dog with a treat.

Make sure not to verbally name the behavior at this time. Repeat this behavior until your dog has mastered sitting with your silent/physical command.

Now you can teach your dog the verbal cue. Follow the steps above but when your dog sits, say “sit” and reward your dog.

Remember to practice these commands regularly (both verbal and silent commands).

Once your dog has mastered sitting, you can alter the command by calling you dog’s name and then saying “sit”.

I hope that these tips have been helpful.

Next week, we will discuss how to discourage unwanted behavior and loose leash walking.