To Sit or Not to Sit

[nsavaglio]

I know that most people do not teach pointing dogs to sit while they are young. Is this something that should or could be taught after the dog is pointing and holding reliably...or is it asking for trouble? I have an almost 2 year old Brittany. I wanted to teach him the sit command as a way to calm him down when excited in the house...I don't want to use whoa command because I did't want to use a command that I use for hunting in the house & vice versa (within reason). I would only use the sit command in the house so that there is no confusion. What do you guys think????

[aylaschamp]

Do you use here in the house? Why not use the same commands? It will only enforce them more often. I personally don't teach them to sit at all.

[mudhunter]

Its my understanding you do not teach sit early so the dog doesn't use "sit" as a way to escape pressure when it gets confused possibly leading to the dog sitting on point. With that theory in mind I see no reason why you can't teach sit after the dog is handling his birds solidly and confidently. I look forward to seeing if more knowledgeable people have a different opinion.

[Benny]

Scroll down in "Training" and look for "Sit or not". Almost 3 pages of comments against or for sitting that was talked about a week ago.

Personally my dog doesn't sit on point, and it was the first thing I taught her.

[slistoe]

Yeah, it's all in the other thread. Benny, you haven't broke your dog yet either. That's where you will see the problem - if you do. If you don't break the dog, you won't see a problem.

Another good excuse for those who don't want to break their dog.

[Benny]

Yeah, it's all in the other thread. Benny, you haven't broke your dog yet either. That's where you will see the problem - if you do. If you don't break the dog, you won't see a problem.

Another good excuse for those who don't want to break their dog.

Slistoe, thanks for the segway. So what is considered "breaking?" I'm just curious. I know that my dog is not fully trained yet, and we will have probably still be doing some training next bird season. I'm just wondering what exactly you are referring to. I'm familiar with the term in respect to horses, and I've watched a some good people break some 2 year old horses and I would never do that to my dog.

[slistoe]

A "broke" dog is one that has all the manners accrued to a Class hunting dog. Steady and honor (both dogs and birds).

What is a segway - besides this thing

[Don]

Yeah, it's all in the other thread. Benny, you haven't broke your dog yet either. That's where you will see the problem - if you do. If you don't break the dog, you won't see a problem.

Another good excuse for those who don't want to break their dog.

My dogs have been all been broke for years, on wild birds and pen raised. All my dogs learned to sit as young dogs. I never had the problem of them sitting on birds. The dogs that sit durning breaking are probably soft dogs having to much pressure put on them or are being moved along to fast and are confussed. Think I'll bump up the other thread if I can find it.

[Benny]

What is a segway - besides this thing

I can't find the spelling, me and my girlfriend are both wondering if its even a word now. By the way, I can't wait to upland hunt on one of those when I'm older. Maybe some all-terrain tires

[slistoe]

My dogs have been all been broke for years, on wild birds and pen raised. All my dogs learned to sit as young dogs. I never had the problem of them sitting on birds. The dogs that sit durning breaking are probably soft dogs having to much pressure put on them or are being moved along to fast and are confussed. Think I'll bump up the other thread if I can find it.

We have been through this on the other thread and all recognize how awesome a trainer you are - obviously anyone who can't teach sit first and avoid an issue with the dog later is a poor trainer. Bloviate is a word - maybe a little strong but I am sure you will get the idea.

Benny is this what you were thinking?
segue
verb (segues, segueing, segued, segued)
To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.

Never mind the upland hunting, if I could afford one I would have one already - pretty cool technology (and Canadian too!)

[Benny]

Benny is this what you were thinking?
segue
verb (segues, segueing, segued, segued)
To move smoothly from one state or subject to another.
Never mind the upland hunting, if I could afford one I would have one already - pretty cool technology (and Canadian too!)

Ah hah! Thank you. We even had to call her mother who is a high school history/english teacher. She didn't know the spelling either!

Anyhow, back to sit or not :roll:
From the most ignorant stand point on this forum, I'd like to say: do what you gotta do!
For instance, a lot of us need a dog that can be obedient at home, without that it can be frustrating the other 8 months of non-hunting season. "Whoa" is just fine, though, and there definitely is no harm in using commands at home that are used in the field. We do "fetch" with tennis balls, and "whoa" at the door. "Dead bird" should probably be left outside, though

[Don]

Slistoe,
Thank you for the kind words. I am heartened to see that your powers of observation are improving!

So tell us how many dog's you have trained to sit before you trained them to point? OOPS! We don't train dogs to point, it's instinctive! So tell us, do you teach your dogs to come before you allow their instincts to take over? How about heel? If so, then why when they get pressured or confussed when they are not being taught to point, don't they just come to you for comfort? They don't do that do they? And they don't sit because they were taught to befor field work either. They sit as a reaction to to much pressure or confussion. Some that really get to much pressure and are confussed will lay down in submission, guess what, you don't have to teach them that either. I was watching a training video, very popular one, last year and they were teaching a dog to whoa from a heel. The first few times it happened the dog started to sit when it was jerked to stop. I guess that dog was taught to sit to soon to, right? Or maybe it was simply reacting to pressure it didn't understand. Some would consider that confussion. Actually I have no idea if the dog had been taught to sit first or not.

I don't understand why it is you guys want to keep people from teaching their dogs to sit prior to field work? What I think is better to teach them is patience and understanding what the dog is telling them.

BTW your are correct. anyone that can't teach a dog to sit first without it becoming a problem needs some help with their training.

[slistoe]

Have you read my opinion on teaching sit in the other thread?

Bloviate is becoming more apt.