A Simple Sit
- Shelley Doan
- Feb 24
- 4 min read
The other day, I was working with a client and her dog. She asked her dog to sit and nothing happened. She asked again — this time a little louder. This time, she tightened up on the leash. The dog, his body tense, his head swiveling left and right, was slowly organizing his body to sit, but I could see the struggle it took for him.
It was like she was pulling his attention back to her through a thick dense fog.
This was not a dog that was being stubborn or disobedient. This was a dog whose senses were temporarily overwhelmed by smells, sounds, and movements going on around him.
The environment had hijacked his thinking brain.
For the human, because her main focus was on getting her dog to sit, she was missing the big picture of why he was struggling to sit.
The Sit as information
First, we already know that her dog can sit, in fact, he often chooses to sit without being asked. That might seem obvious, but it matters. Dogs dealing with hip discomfort or pain may avoid sitting altogether, preferring to stand or lie down. Dogs who struggle to stand up from a sit may hesitate to sit on slippery floors or icy ground.
Second, we already know he understands what the SIT cue means. At home with or without food, he will sit when she asks and he does it in 1.2 seconds - quickly and easily. This is important because it gives us a baseline on what he can do - at least at home.
Finally, where and how a dog sits also gives us information. Is he facing the handler, or facing away? Tucked into heel position beside her? or angled slightly off? How different is this from how he sits at home? That small shift can reveal where his attention is and how stimulated or excited he feels in that moment. A subtlety that matters when you have a dog that is reactive to certain things because that little shift in his position can be what we need to see to determine what to do next.
What is missing
At its core, dog training rests on two main understandings in the dog-human relationship; the dogs level of attention to the handler and the hander's ability to understand their dogs body language.
There are many ways to teach a dog how to be more aware and attentive to their handler but few understand what it means. This is because there is a difference in a dog that is focused to a handler versus one that is attentive to the handler. One requires the dog to be looking at the handler, the other says that the dog is completely aware and responsive to the handler even when they are not looking at the handler.
Attentiveness
To give you an idea of what the difference is - imagine you are driving down a quiet road and chatting with your partner, you are aware of the road, but you are attentive to the conversation. It did not require you to be staring intently on your friend as you drove, you were attentive to her and yet still aware of what was going on around you. Until the environment changes - now as you get closer to the city, and there are more cars, people crossing the street, traffic lights - you might need to shift your attention to your surroundings, and be less attentive to your partner's conversation.
This is true for dogs and their handlers, we want our dogs to be aware of what is going on around them, but at times, they will begin to get sticky based on what is happening around them. In those moments it is helpful to know what is going on so that you can adjust and help your dog to navigate those moments.
Why do some dogs struggle more than others?
There are some dogs who are seemingly born to be attentive to their humans, I see them as puppies, or in a dog class, happily working with their human.
For the rest of us, its a struggle and for these dogs we need to work a little harder on teaching our dog the value of checking in with the human. These dogs may be young teenage dogs; dogs who are more easily overwhelmed - emotionally and physically; dogs who are new to the family or where their relationship might be broken.
Other things include, confusion or mixed messages from the human; bad timing or inappropriate use of rewards and punishers.
How to begin
The process starts by rewarding the dog when he chooses to engage, if even accidently, and we pay them big time. We make it a birthday party, not a history lesson, it is the golden moment in training when our dog chooses to engage with us, from there we can begin to build their skills.
Here for little Syd, we have added in some fun movement, keeping ourselves engaged and focused, and rewarding that sit, with a little tug game.
Most of all have fun!
Warning: Tug should be played gently and in small sessions to keep that arousal from escalating.
