[ayoitzrimz]

Hi all,

I'm training my 9 month old GSD in Sch. We have a long way to go or the BH but he's already making progress on the revere and does well in tracking. He's OB is OK. The little guy is so high in drive the club manager can't stop praising him. So far, every mistake he's made was because of a mistake I made (that's just something I learned to accept... he's smart, I'm stupid lol :crazy: )

Anyway, one problem he's developed is when we heel and I stop he'll sort of rock back into a sit. That looks bad, it's slow, and it leads to a crooked sit.

The only advice the trainer could give me was to work on that for a while, and only reward a fast sit. Although I've been doing that, he still sits slow sometimes.

Does anyone have any advice? I want that quick butt on the floor eyes up (yes, he looks forward when he sits and then back to me which I hate!! )

Any advice will be appreciated. He's a real good dog and I want him to do well. We practice every day (although some days I'll just tease him a little and take him straight home to build drive) and I really want him to succeed.

Thanks!!

 

[ayoitzrimz]

JKatsky, thanks for such a detailed post! Thank you everyone else for their input as well. As you correctly pointed out, I originally taught the sit when he was a puppy luring with a treat over his head until he rocked back. As you say, I think the way he sits is firmly planted in his fundamentals so not much can be done there. As far as the reward, I usually bring him into drive with teasing and then tuck it under my armpit. The reward will come out of the armpit along with a release command. Sometimes when working just on walking with attention I'll keep the reward out in my hand as a distraction to see if he'll stay focused so he won't get into the habit of sign-tracking. I haven't really used the automatic correction that much, but I think I'll start and see if that wont make a difference (he will, hopefully, sit faster to try and "beat" the correction).

Anyway these is all great advice, and I'm happy to see such a large community on this site and especially in the sch section. I'll try each advice separately and see what works best.

One thing is that yea, he does get lazy. The first few sits are excellent - quick and clean, butt planted on the ground, eyes up, attentive. But after a few times he gets lazy. I try to keep the sessions short and finish while he's in high drive but maybe I need to keep them even shorter.

Anyway, sorry for rambling here. Thanks again for the advice!