Clicker Training for Dogs

Advanced Clicker Lessons

The Perfect Sit

So, what constitutes a perfect sit? The answer to that question depends on a dog owner's expectations. For a family dog, any sit will do. For a service dog, an instant sit is required. For a competition obedience dog there are several requirements for a perfect sit.

Fast, straight, tucked, and with attention are requirements for sits that earn high scores, and although this might sound like a lot to expect, are not difficult to shape IF:

• The dog understands how a tucked sit feels.
• The dog has an accurate picture of heel position.
• The sit is totally under stimulus control.

Stimulus control doesn't mean the behavior is reliable on voice command only. There are many sit cues in the obedience ring, most of which involve approximations from the dog. The only time a verbal sit command is used in AKC obedience is after the send-away (go-out) in the Utility directed jumping exercise; automatic sits in heeling are cued by the handler's halt, and automatic sits in front position are cued by the proximity of the handler.

The steps to shaping a perfect sit are simple: shape the dog to perform a correctly tucked sit and then shape him to understand the picture he will see when he's in correct front and heel positions.

Shape the sit first in either heel position or side front position - never while facing the handler. I teach the tuck in the sit by performing "skip-sits" from the very beginning. The use of variable reinforcement (VR) and successive approximation (SA) are essential to first get a fast and tucked sit behavior and then to transfer the behavior to include heeling and coming into front position. If you are unfamiliar with these terms SA and VR, visit this page: Terms & Definitions.

Understanding successive approximation is easy - each and every increase in criteria must be a measurable increase. Rather than shaping a behavior as the entire behavior, look for bits and pieces that make up the behavior, and then build on the most basic, one step at a time until the entire behavior presents itself. Translation: When sitting a puppy with a lure, move the lure farther and farther away, an inch at a time. Each time the puppy sits with the lure farther away it becomes the new standard that will be clicked; only sits offered with the lure at that distance will be reinforced.

In my opinion variable reinforcement (VRS) is the very crux of clicker training. Many people have SA and VR mixed up and many people are using VR unwisely - on a schedule. As the name implies, it's a varying schedule; it is driven by the dog's behavior and it means reinforcing only the sits that meet current criteria standards. VR is essential to maintaining the sit behavior at its present level. Translation: When adding a cue, reinforce only sits offered after the cue is presented, ignoring all other sits. I turn my back on the dog as a signal that he was incorrect, which is instant feedback to the dog just like the clicker.

Starting with the dog in side-front position and working on the dog's level:

1. Get the sit to happen enough that the dog starts to offer it when the "cue" is presented (the lure is the cue in this case and is presented in front of his nose, NEVER above it).
2. Add in a stand, since it has to be shaped anyway (use this time to get puppies accustomed to having their feet, legs, and tummy touched while standing), and to reposition the dog for another sit.
3. Without changing position, start doing skip sits to get them fast and tucked, but click only the tucked ones. This will require talking steps to the right while on your knees, but the steps are only a couple of inches long (fast and tucked are two separate criteria - doing it this way causes fast to just happen, so it doesn't have to be clicked separately until new criteria is added much later).
4. Add a verbal cue (sit). I add the words "come up," so the verbal cue at this time is "come up, sit". Putting a name on the get up fast behavior that accompanies skip-sits makes sense to dogs and is an extra cue that supports this shaping exercise.
5. Stand up and continue skip-sits while taking baby steps (about 4") to the right and click every sit (raised criteria by standing up, so lower tucked criteria for now), while using the verbal cue (if you try this it is here that you will see why I add the "come up").
6. Start fading the lure so it is farther and farther away from the dog until he can sit with the lure as far away as your chest or mouth, so he can focus on it - this all ties in with his attention training. Click all sits, and then only tucked sits as he adjusts to the raised criterion. Each time the lure distance criterion is increased, give the dog a change to get it right before moving the lure (raising criteria) again.
7. Increase the distance of the step by about double - enough that the dog will have to take a step of his own to get back into correct position at side-front. This is early targeting for heel position shaping. Expect him to hop forward and sit without the extra step, as that is what he's been doing, and if he does, wait to see if he will correct himself. If he doesn't, help him to understand this new criterion by lowering the lure and taking a very small step to present the picture a second time.
8. Now, for the fun stuff, because you have both earned it. Pivot left into heel position to the dog and repeat from about step 5, but with the lure in heel position and just above and in front of his nose (in the left hand, of course). This lowering of the lure position is balancing the raising of your position criterion.
9. Fade the lure as before, which should go a little faster this time. If you did not maintain the side-front position throughout the earlier lessons, the dog will be twisting around to look at your face, and you will need to separately shape heel position.
10. From this point I shape the stand (a popup stand) in heel position and start working on the turns he has already learned in separate backward heeling lessons. I also teach some heeling, going from a step at a time (skip-sit) to several steps, which gives me the opportunity to expose the dog to the footwork that will be used for the first step and the automatic sit while heeling.

Follow these steps, and you not only have a perfect sit, but a dog that is ready for heeling, turns, halts, and more.