Stand?

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#1
How do you teach this? I'm trying to teach Sam to stand up from a sit/down but I don't think he gets it. He'll, at best, stand up but then sit down as quickly as possible while I give him the treat. What I do is (from a sit) put the treat near his face and then pull it forward so that he has to lift his butt off the ground to reach it, but instead he downs in hopes of getting the treat for doing that. Down doesn't have a hand signal anymore and "down" and "stand" don't really sound very similar at all. When I'm having him stand from a down I put the treat in his face and then pull it up and forward, but then he sits instead. Any help?
 

corgipower

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#3
IME, the stand is the hardest of the three positions (sit, down, stand) for them to grasp.

I start out by kneeling next to them and as I ask for a stand, I gently lift them from underneath. Immediately give a treat and a release word, while my hand is still under them, and as soon as I give the release word, remove my hand. I fade the lift gradually, although I'm not too worried about that ~ even in Novice Obedience, you're allowed to lift them into a stand. I very slowly start asking them to stay standing. At first, I remove my hand from them, still with it underneath, but not touching and immediately give a treat and release. Then I start removing my hand from touching them, wait a half second, give a treat, release. Then a full second. Then I try moving my hand out from under them ~ just a little, still staying close and ready to block them if they try to sit or lie down. Eventually they get it, but it takes a lot of repetition and very gradual progression.
 

lizzybeth727

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#4
I start teaching stand with the dog in a sit at my side, like in heel position. I turn my shoulders in to them, crowding their space until they stand up, then I click/treat. If they sit at this point before they get their treat, that's ok, as long as you click at the right time; they have to just figure out muscle memory about how to do the stand. Usually after about 5-10 clicks for the stand, they'll stand and stay standing while you give the treat. If they're still sitting after 10 clicks, you can just put your left foot under their belly, so that if they sit they'll hit your foot and probably want to stand back up.

Make sure that you're giving the treat so that his nose is level, parallel to the floor; if you give the treat too high or too low, he will probably sit or lay down.

Give lots of treats in very quick succession in the beginning, the stand stay is EXTREMELY difficult to build duration on so you'll want to start adding a little bit of duration as soon as possible.

I usually work on standing from a sit before I work on standing from a down; standing from a down is much harder. With some dogs you can do it the same way as you did the stand from a sit - turning your shoulders in and crowding their space until they get up - but with many dogs (particularly shorter dogs) this will not work. In this case, I use my hand touch (dog touches my hand with his nose) to get the dog to stand: The dog is in a down, present your hand in front of his face but high up where his head would be if he were standing, and cue him to touch your hand there. Then just click/treat the stand.

Another option for stand from a down would be to have the dog in the same position - down at your side in "heel" position - and then just start heeling. Click the moment he stands up, and treat so that he doesn't keep walking.
 

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