# Teaching "Sit Pretty" is turning into "Jump on Me"



## xray328 (Dec 12, 2009)

I'm trying to teach Reilly "Sit Pretty". The video I saw on it saws to use a treat above thier head to get them on their hind legs. 





 

The dog in the video gets up by just following the treat. Reilly won't do this. When I bring the treat up she just turns around to follow it.

At first she had no idea what I wanted so she started doing "Spin" which she already knows. Now I've got her on her hind legs, but she's not really balancing well yet. She's basically jumping up with her front paws on me. I've been rewarding this since she's making progress but I'm not sure where to go from here. She's great about not jumping on us, and I don't want to teach her that jumping on us is acceptable.

All that being said, we've only been at this for 10 minutes or so and I'm happy with the fact that she's come this far this quick with it, but I just want to make sure I'm heading in the right direction and not teaching her something were going to have trouble with later (jumping on us).

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!


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## Judi (Feb 26, 2007)

When she jumps on you, give a firm loud NO!
Stick your right leg up and lightly tap her.
When she sits and/or does anything elce that you want her to do, reward her with praise. I strongly suggest you enroll your dog in an Obedience class too as soon as possible. Good luck.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

This really isn't a situation where you punish her for jumping up...she's just trying to figure out what you want.

This is a behavior I'm conflicted about...some vets are saying do NOT teach this, it compresses the spine in a way that is not safe and potentially dangerous. Others say it's a great conditioning/strength building activity. 

If your dog is jumping up, your lure is probably too far away. While luring, your dog should be able to lick the treat the entire time it is moved. If your treat hand is too far away, you're more likely to get the jumping up. Reinforce for just going up a tiny bit.

Be sure you are on a non-slippery floor.

Not all dogs have the shape/muscle needed to even start the behavior. Out of my three, only one is able to do this (not that I've worked too hard on it) And he even sometimes puts a paw on me to balance. If you teach other tricks you might be able to get enough muscle/balance to get this behavior later.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> This is a behavior I'm conflicted about...some vets are saying do NOT teach this, *it compresses the spine in a way that is not safe and potentially dangerous*. Others say it's a great conditioning/strength building activity.


That scares me... but I wonder if this is just like anything else - safe in moderation, dangerous if you force your dog to hold the position for a long period of time? I've always thought that it was a good thing to teach your dog, because it utilzes and strengthens various groups of muscles all at once. That has to be a good thing.

For teaching the 'sit pretty', you need to help teach the dog balance, especially if you have a 'top heavy' dog. So put one hand out for the dog to balance off of, and this hand keeps your dog sitting as well. The other hand with the treat goes up over the dog's head while you tell him to 'sit pretty' or whatever your word is.

As the dog learns balance or gets stronger, you can start to wean your hand off until the point when your dog can easily sit up when you point at him (my cue for him) or give him the verbal command.


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## xray328 (Dec 12, 2009)

Judi said:


> When she jumps on you, give a firm loud NO!
> Stick your right leg up and lightly tap her.
> When she sits and/or does anything elce that you want her to do, reward her with praise. I strongly suggest you enroll your dog in an Obedience class too as soon as possible. Good luck.


Sorry, I think you might of misunderstood my question.


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## xray328 (Dec 12, 2009)

Megora said:


> That scares me... but I wonder if this is just like anything else - safe in moderation, dangerous if you force your dog to hold the position for a long period of time? I've always thought that it was a good thing to teach your dog, because it utilzes and strengthens various groups of muscles all at once. That has to be a good thing.
> 
> For teaching the 'sit pretty', you need to help teach the dog balance, especially if you have a 'top heavy' dog. So put one hand out for the dog to balance off of, and this hand keeps your dog sitting as well. The other hand with the treat goes up over the dog's head while you tell him to 'sit pretty' or whatever your word is.
> 
> As the dog learns balance or gets stronger, you can start to wean your hand off until the point when your dog can easily sit up when you point at him (my cue for him) or give him the verbal command.


Yeah, that's my main reason for wanting yo teach this. I read that it helps build the core muscles and helps warm them up before starting agility work and such. I don't see using it a whole lot though so hopefully spine issues shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the help!


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