Hi, my dog knows sit (sits every time with no distractions and almost every time with distractions) and knows down with a lure.

I was trying to do a session at home, no distractions and once he's in a down and I ask for a sit he is confused.

So it almost seems like he thinks anytime I want anything of him is that I want him to not stand, and if he is already laying down then what else can I be asking for?

So now this makes me think he doesn't know the sit either and any time I say sit he just goes one level down so to speak.

1. How do I separate sit and down (and stand in the future) as separate commands that can be done from any position
2. I can get him to down with a lure every time. Is it time to name it and go to distractions or get him to lay down with distractions and then name it

Thank you

 Quote: Natalie Rynda

So it almost seems like he thinks anytime I want anything of him is that I want him to not stand, and if he is already laying down then what else can I be asking for?

Don't ever say that in public again (jokingly). Dogs don't work that way.

He isn't familiar enough with a training regimen yet. He needs many reps. As you do it more often, he will start getting it. You can do several sessions like this every day in your kitchen or living room.

The answer to your question is luring. Actually, you should be starting over with markers, per a conversation from last week, and you shouldn't even be saying the command yet. Lure him into downs from sits, sits from downs, and downs from stands. I wouldn't worry about teaching the stand until you get good at the first things. While you have him in a sit is also a good time to introduce marking when he looks you in the eye. This will eventually be your "look" command, and is extremely useful.

You know, I really wanted to start over but I couldn't let my SIT go. I mean that's all I have to show for 6 months having him lolol

Starting over, this was a dumb move

Thank you


As far as him looking, I've been doing that and didn't understand something.

I mark every time he looks at me but for how long? Once he got a treat for looking he just kept on looking. Do I keep marking?
What if he looks for 10 mins? Keep marking every few seconds?
Sorry, I don't understand this part so I stopped doing it consistently.

Anytime, training or not, if I catch him looking he gets a treat? He lives in my room and he's almost always looking at me.

Lol I'm not arguing, I'm trying to explain what I came across and why it confused me

No, not marking all of the time. During your training sessions. You build duration by extending the time. Start with a second or two, then wait three, then five, and so forth. Follow the look with a different behavior so that he's not just sitting there staring. The idea is to teach him to look into your eyes when you tell him to.

You're not going to lose your SIT because you went back to luring to teach the other behaviors. But during your sessions, just don't say the command. Lure him into everything. Once he changes positions correctly every time, add your commands, and you will have DOWN and LOOK, as well as SIT. And then you can start working on that STAND.

The reason you teach the down from the stand is so that he doesn't learn that he always sits before he downs. Keep it random.

Yes, that's what I want ideally, each command from any position

I wish I read your post before I went out. We did our 'stand at the bus stop' thing, trying to get him to be OK around people and I fed him the entire bag of treats for looking at me

I understand the ideas from here but now I have questions from the bus stop exercise.

Do I have to open a new thread? I don't want to flood the board. Can I just ask everything here?

"Do I have to open a new thread? I don't want to flood the board. Can I just ask everything here?"

Yes, you can, if it's somehow connected to your title. You're not hijacking someone else's thread.

It's not connected at all. It's desensitizing. But I'm reading a thread about it here now, let me see if it's answered there first

My question WAS answered there but one about markers. There were times where he'd do what I ask, I mark and he ignored and didn't go for the treat.
Those times were usually around distractions.

Should I go back to charging the marker or can I assume he knows it? He will look at me every time with no distractions.

Does it ever happen to people that with distractions the dog ignores the marker and the treat?

Your treat is not valuable enough. It should be more important than a distraction. Also, you are not properly engaged with the dog, and you shouldn't be training near any distraction that can interrupt your engagement.

You need to charge the mark until the dog knows what it means. If there is a doubt about your mark being charged, you're just wasting your time.

I thought so but then the time after that it IS valuable enough for him to do stuff for that's why I was confused.

Besides, I don't know what can be more valuable than meat or liver.

What do you guys use? He's on raw so I think that limits the things I can give him.

dry liver has him running every single time.

If this matters, he refused a treat (ignored, not refused) after eating them for 10 mins straight so maybe it lost its value (dumb idea at the bus stop, before I understood what I should be doing)

Is that possible that it loses value after eating it for 10 mins?

But watching the marker videos it seems like these dogs are stuffed non stop.
I also saw Cindy give her dog treats while she was talking to Michael, so for no reason (it seemed like). I guess that's a separate question.

But yeah, if it loses value then how are they able to train with food?


ETA how do I make sure it's charged? I've been using markers for a month though I'm not that good with the GOOD one because I don't use it much.

But i'd say he knows YES. How do I know for sure?