A dog trainer is advising puppy owners to reconsider teaching the ‘sit’ command first, suggesting there are better and easier commands to begin with.
For those contemplating getting a dog or who have recently welcomed a puppy into their home, early training is essential. Proper dog training is vital for safety, preventing behavioural issues, and strengthening the bond between humans and animals by imparting life skills, ensuring control in potentially dangerous situations (such as recall and stay).
It also provides the dog with mental stimulation, and helps them develop into well-mannered companions who can safely experience more of the world alongside you.
However, enthusiastic new dog owners can easily rush into teaching familiar, common commands like sit. But now Kim Paciotti, a dog trainer from Empowered Puppy Program, has warned dog owners to wait before introducing this particular command, as it can prove too advanced for young puppies to understand at first.
Instead, she’s encouraging people to begin with an alternative command that will serve as a solid foundation for numerous other commands down the line.
“Everyone teaches sit first because that’s what they were taught,” Kim explained in the caption of her Instagram post.
She continued by highlighting that many first time dog owners may not understnad that young puppies are often unaware of what their body is doing, as they cannot observe themselves. This can prove challenging when you’re asking them to adopt a particular position, such as sitting or lying down.
Kim explained: “When you say ‘sit,’ they have no idea what you’re asking for except that you seem happy when their butt hits the ground, which they can’t see happening.”
Instead, she suggested that a more effective alternative to sit is teaching your dog ‘place’, which means remaining in a specific spot without moving, as this provides them with something tangible to focus on. This could involve staying on a mat or in their bed whilst awaiting your next instruction.
“And the second they understand ‘go to this spot and wait here,’ you’ve taught them the foundation of other behaviours,” the dog trainer added.
Studies have demonstrated that dogs grasp visual cues and commands, such as going to the mat, three times more rapidly than verbal cues, like ‘sit’ and ‘lay down’. Consequently, the dog trainer emphasised the importance of beginning with visual commands before progressing to more abstract instructions, like sit, since ‘that’s how dogs learn’.
Kim elucidated that by the age of 12 weeks, puppies trained to ‘place’ have a better grasp of impulse control and can wait until they’re released. They can also wait for a certain duration and have clear expectations of their behaviour. Meanwhile, the dogs who were just taught to ‘sit’ might still be trying to understand their body positions.
Her advice was met with a flurry of positive responses in the comments section, as dog owners rushed to share their thoughts.
One user enthused: “So helpful!” while another lamented: “I wish I had seen this before I started training my puppy!”
One dog owner queried: “Is place and their crate separate spaces or the same?” To this, Kim clarified that they were different places.