Day #1: Does Your Dog Know Sit?

Santa wants to see how nice or naughty your pup is before Christmas Eve! He has given you the task of performing the "Sit" cue during specific situations. Is your dog up for the challenge?

Santa wants to see your dog perform the "Sit" cue:

• With your hands on your head.
• With your back to your dog.
• While spinning in a circle - both ways!
• While hopping or standing on one leg.
• While Christmas music is playing.

Too Hard?

Make sure your dog understands their verbal cue for "Sit" well before trying this game. You want them to have an 80% success rate when you ask under normal circumstances before making it harder.

Make sure you are providing high-value treats as this game can be hard - praise alone won't be enough! You also want to be in a quiet room without other distractions the first time you try this game.

Not sure what high-value treats mean? Read our blog post about it here. If you need high-value reinforcer ideas, check out this other blog post too!

Too Easy?

Try this game with a more complex behavior like "Down", "Shake", "Spin", or any other behavior your dog already knows a verbal cue for.

Try some hard distractions to really impress Santa! Maybe you try to cue your dog while standing in a chair, while you are laying down, while you are cooking dinner, or while holding a dog toy.

Don't Know Sit?

If your dog doesn't already know Sit or how to use a marker, please watch one of our older video showing two adorable puppies learning these skills. You can view this video below.

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