Sit Pretty

[Hayden]

So I've been trying to teach Odin how to sit pretty for the last couple of weeks but I can't get him to try to balance. Used treats and his favorite toys to try to get him to lean back but I'm unsuccessful. Any tips for how you got your doberchild to do this trick?? pics of odin and his best friend for attention. (prong collar is sitting low because he was playing)

 

[Nox-the-dobe]

Keep going, its not the easiest or most natural position for a dog to sit in, specifically a larger dog. He needs to build up his strengh to be able to do it longer. If hes doing the action correctly and is just wobbling, then he'll get better as you continue.

I got my mums JRTs to do this within a day, however my doberman took about 4-5 weeks to stabilize himself in the position - he was pretty good at it tbh!

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Yep, they've got to learn to balance. It's funny, but they use their tail on the floor to help which reminds me of what kangaroos do. Just try to keep him motivated and make it fun and brief – the sessions. Given that happy face it looks like he is a happy guy.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I've actually done more of having them stand on hind legs, and of having them walk/hop toward me. Perhaps working with this can make the sitting "pretty" easier. Seems to me an enthusiastic dog may be more inclined to go all the way up than take the middle position of sitting on its butt.

 

[Hayden]

Yep, they've got to learn to balance. It's funny, but they use their tail on the floor to help which reminds me of what kangaroos do. Just try to keep him motivated and make it fun and brief – the sessions. Given that happy face it looks like he is a happy guy.

I just cracked up laughing thinking about his little nub helping
He's almost a year old so his attention span isn't great. I try to keep the sessions around 10 min long

 

[Hayden]

I'll have to see if the hopping thing works. He's quite springy

 

[Regalis]

How old is he?

Reason I'm asking is - I read somewhere, don't remember where but I'll try to find it again - this particular trick can actually be damaging to young dogs.

Beyond that - some dogs just don't have the balance for it. My lab, for instance, can not do it to save his life. He's just not proportioned in a way that is conducive to being in that position despite being a very well muscled pooch.

 

[Hayden]

@Regalis he'll be 1 this Saturday.

 

[Rits]

There is back and forth on whether this is an ok trick to teach. People used to teach it all the time and said it was good display of core strength, now those same people say its not ok. You will have to do the research and decide for yourself.

To help build his core muscles you can ask him to stand up with just his front paws on a box that is around chest high. Treat for standing. Ask him to sit. If he removes a foot from the box you'll have to ask him to stand on the box again. Reward the moment he goes to sit with one or two paws on the box. This exercise trains him to rock his weight back into his hind legs. If you removed the box and he'd be doing a sit pretty. Keep doing short repetitions to build up those legs and abdomen muscles.

There are many other core exercises you can do such as using a wobble board and teaching them balance on it by stepping, sitting and standing on it! Whatever you do, you'll have to build up for it and take it slow to avoid any injuries.

 

[CRDobe]

Off topic but....probably not a good idea to leave the prong on when he's playing.

 

[Kaiser2016]

Off topic but....probably not a good idea to leave the prong on when he's playing.

Thank you for mentioning this. We never knew about this either, but we did notice that he would not run as fast off leash after the prong was introduced. Then we decided to flip the prong over to see if it made a difference and it did! They really have a way of telling us - we just don't always know it. Since then, we make use of that long neck and keep multiple collars on him. Usually only two but sometimes a third for training.

 

[Ingrid H]

I was never successful at teaching Hans this trick. He can do it with slight support from his front paws in my hand, but not all but himself. I chalk it up to his big deep chest making it too hard to balance.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I guess it's like I like to say regarding humans: Different body-types, different abilities.

Reminds me of one of my best friends from the past. He's a rather big and burly. Strong. Was never able to do a chinup even as a kid.

With my first Dobe, I got it in my head for a while that I'd like to teach him to do that trick where the dog does a backflip while catching a frisbee. Uh hello, self, a stocky 95 pound Dobe is not going to be able to do that trick. It's the smaller slinkier dogs that can. He could, however, do quite well at hopping forward on hind legs while turning in circles. Tying it back to a comment here: He did not have a very deep chest.

 

[Kaiser2016]

I got my mums JRTs to do this within a day, however my doberman took about 4-5 weeks to stabilize himself in the position - he was pretty good at it tbh!

I originally wanted a JRT but my husband talked me out of it by saying they were too much work. And then he came home with a Dobe

 

[Nox-the-dobe]

I originally wanted a JRT but my husband talked me out of it by saying they were too much work. And then he came home with a Dobe

Hahah! My mum has working JRT and they're probably just as hard work as my previous dobes, they need sooooooooooooooooooooooo much activity, NEVER let a JRT become bored