How to teach your dog to sit pretty (the beg)

This is a really easy move to teach your dog but I would not teach a young puppy to do this  until he/she is at least 10-12 months of age or their growth plates have fully closed.

Full video below to assist you:

Step One:

With your dog sitting beside or in front of you, hold a treat just above its mouth and slowly lure your dog up until its front paws slightly raise off of the floor.  Reward whilst the dog is in this position.  Now don't rush it!  If you find your dog is almost standing up on his/her back legs, you have taken the treat too far away from the dog and you are forcing him/her to reach up too far for it.  Keep your hand close to your dog and control the movement.

Repeat 2-3 times daily; 1-2 minutes per session.

Step two:

Add a cue, I say "pretty" and gradually reduce your hand signal.  This will occur as your dogs' core strength muscles strengthen and he/she will be able to hold the position higher and for longer.

Step three:

Once your dog can take up and hold the position on a singal cue; now you can start circling your dog both clockwise and anti-clockwise.  This strengthens your dogs core muscles even more which helps to support your dogs spine; hips and hind legs.

When first beginning to circle your dog, stay close, move slowly, take small steps and reward often.

Troubleshooter: you may find that your dog can hold the position easily whilst you circle him/her in one direction but struggles whilst you walk in the opposite direction.  If this happens, ask your dog to sit and circle him/her in the direction they struggled with.  Once they accept this then put your dog back into the pretty (beg) and circle again whilst staying close, moving slowly, taking small steps and rewarding often.

Step four:

So now your dog can take up the pretty (beg) position on a singal cue and maintain the position whilst you circle him/her both clockwise and anticlockwise.  So now lets add some movement from you.  Try having a dance around your dog whilst he/she mainatins the position; or ask them to hold a prop and some dog parents can even have their dogs hug their leg or a prop; have fun with it and why not post on my Dogs and Blogs facebook page some photos of your dogs sitting pretty :-)