I'm not sure what's going on, but I am sure this is a handler prolem. I started some basic sit/down training today with my 10 week old chow/GSD mix. After he sits the first time, I literally have to walk out of his site to make him stand up, so I can ask him to sit again. No amount of waving the food around or trying to excite him will get him back on his feet.

Should I continue to walk around the house, randomly asking him to sit, or is this something I should not worry about?

If you are just asking him to sit repeatedly (meaning rewarding that particular behaviour repeatedly)within a short duration of time, he probably thinks he is doing exactly as you want..sitting. So why get up?

When my pup was that age, I didn't have any type of formal training session. I made sure I had treats 100% of the time I was with him and would just periodically ask for a behaviour (sit, down, come) and could reward and release and just let the pup decide when to change position on his own.

I didn't have trouble with him moving out of position just so I could ask for it again. I would just wait until he was in another position on his own and then ask for it again or give him an entirely different command to reward. I also didn't mess with stays at all, as soon as he hit the position he got rewarded and released.

It would be my guess that you have taught him a 'stay' either intentionally or unintentionally (by asking him for a sit every time he doesn't sit in a particular span of time) and he is simply giving you what you want.

Pups are smart that way <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Wish mine would do that. LOL

Sounds good. I'd continue with that trend if I were you. That's what you want, you want the dog to sit and stay in the sit till released.

Most dogs have problems learning to stay, you'll just have to work on the release part. LOL

I agree with Robert. That's a pretty good problem to have! Use this opportunity to teach the stay command (since he already knows the action). After he's in his sit stay for a little while, walk up to him, reward him and tell him "good stay", then give a release command like "all done". THEN, walk away and go about your business. If you walk away without giving the release command to get him to get up, you're going to end up having problems with him later when you want him to stay when you're out of sight. If he gets up before you give him the release command, say "bad stay" and put him back in his original position and tell him to stay again.

You could also use the opportunity to teach him recall. Put him in a sit stay with a lead attached to him. After he's been in his sit stay for a while, give him his recall command, like "come", and pull him toward you with the lead. Have him finish by sitting directly in front of you, give him a treat and say "good come".

Thanks for all the responses! You're right, this is probably not a problem at all!